Will the success of AI in healthcare depend on nurses?
Editor's Note Nurses have always played an important role when new health information technology (IT) has been implemented, and the emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) and the changes it can bring to healthcare will be no exception, reports the September 27 HealthcareITNews. Though some nurses may view AI as another…
Association between social risk factors and SSIs after colectomy, abdominal hysterectomy
Editor's Note Social risk factors were inconsistently associated with surgical site infection (SSI) rates after colectomy or abdominal hysterectomy in this study. In this analysis of 149,741 patients, Medicaid status (a marker for poverty) and living in a low-income zip code were linked to higher SSI rates after colectomy. For…
Total hip arthroplasty vs hemiarthroplasty for hip fracture
Editor's Note In this study of patients with displaced femoral neck fractures, the incidence of secondary procedures did not differ significantly between patients who had total hip arthroplasty (THA) and those who had hemiarthroplasty. THA was associated with modestly better function over 2 years but with a slightly higher incidence…
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…
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…
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%)…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Free Daily News
- Legislation proposes to halt Medicare physician payment cuts
- Cigna ties executive pay to patient experience
- Proposed tax credit aims to bolster nurse preceptor ranks
- Study links financial conflicts of interest to favorable robotic bariatric surgery research
- Hospitals double down on ambulatory care expansion with major investments
- Study: Post-laparotomy incisional negative pressure wound therapy fails to reduce infection risk
- FDA announces multiple Class 1 recalls
- Study: ERAS protocol reduces opioid use after cardiac surgery
- Study: Prehabilitation reduces surgical complications, speeds recovery
- Commentary: Studies show how surgeon decisions follow the money