Tag: Safety

AI detects key findings in chest x-rays of pneumonia patients within 10 seconds

Editor's Note Researchers from Intermountain Healthcare and Stanford University say 10 seconds is how long it takes for their new model, which uses artificial intelligence (AI), to accurately identify key findings in chest x-rays of patients in the emergency department suspected of having pneumonia. The researchers presented the findings of…

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By: Judy Mathias
September 30, 2019
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AI predicts radiation therapy side effects for head and neck cancer patients

Editor's Note A computer model, which for the first time accurately predicted two of the most challenging side effects of radiation therapy for head and neck cancer patients, was presented September 26 at the Annual Meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology in Chicago. Researchers from the University of…

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By: Judy Mathias
September 30, 2019
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Needlestick events and reporting among surgical residents

Editor's Note This national survey of surgical residents found that needlesticks occur frequently, many events are not reported, and numerous reporting barriers exist. Of 7,395 respondents from all 260 general surgery residency programs, 27.7% noted experiencing a needlestick in the last 6 months. Most events occurred in the OR (77.5%)…

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By: Judy Mathias
September 26, 2019
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EPA will require sterilization companies to provide data on EO emissions

Editor's Note Medtech sterilization companies were asked by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to provide data that will help the agency craft new regulation of ethylene oxide emissions, the September 25 Medical Design & Outsourcing reports. The data will include specific sterilization facility characteristics, control devices, work practices, and costs…

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By: Judy Mathias
September 26, 2019
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Enhanced Recovery After Surgery: The new standard for perioperative care

Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS®) is a comprehensive, multifaceted, and multidisciplinary approach to the care of the surgical patient. ERAS bundles evidence-based elements to facilitate a faster recovery with fewer complications.1 Spanning the continuum of perioperative care, ERAS elements include: • patient engagement and education • preoperative optimization of nutrition…

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By: OR Manager
September 23, 2019
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Seminar eases nurses' discomfort with sudden patient declines

A patient’s condition can change in the blink of an eye. Are you prepared to respond? And what happens if the patient dies? This is the focus of an annual seminar at Houston Methodist Hospital that was developed to increase the comfort level of perioperative nurses caring for a patient…

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By: Judith M. Mathias, MA, RN
September 23, 2019
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Is point-of-use treatment an integral part of your sterilization process?

Providing sterile instrumentation for patient care is a basic fundamental of surgery, and ensuring sterility means that instrumentation must first be thoroughly cleaned, step by step. Point-of-use treatment, an important part of this process, is gaining the attention of accrediting agencies such as the Joint Commission, and it is included…

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By: Susan Klacik, BS, CRCST, CHL, CIS, ACE, FCS
September 23, 2019
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Effect of recent barrier attire regulations in the OR

Editor's Note Though recent guidelines mandating additional barrier attire for all scrubbed and unscrubbed OR personnel from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and Joint Commission, which include bouffant caps covering all hair and long-sleeved surgical attire covering all exposed skin, this study finds that this mandate does…

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By: Judy Mathias
September 23, 2019
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9/11 World Trade Center exposure linked to long-term CVD risk in firefighters

Editor's Note In this study, a significant association was found between exposure to World Trade Center dust and long-term cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in firefighters. Of 9,796 firefighters analyzed, those who arrived first at the World Trade Center when dust was the thickest were found to have a 44% increased…

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By: Judy Mathias
September 9, 2019
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FDA sets meeting to discuss EO sterilization

Editor's Note The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) announced September 4 that it will hold a Medical Devices Advisory Committee Meeting in November to discuss ethylene oxide (EO) sterilization of medical devices, including methods to reduce EO emissions. The committee also will provide recommendations on reducing infection risks from reprocessed…

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By: Judy Mathias
September 5, 2019
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