Editor's Note This study from a large academic medical center finds that the practice of overlapping surgery does not expose patients to increased risk of negative outcomes. Data on operative procedures from January 1, 2014 to December 31, 2015 at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, were used to compare…

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Editor's Note New data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that so far, during the 2018-2019 season, between 6 and 7 million people have been sick with the flu. Up to half have sought medical care, and between 69,000 and 84,000 have been hospitalized. These estimates…

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A patient is lying on an apparently clean bed or stretcher when blood from a previous patient oozes out of the surface. Clearly, you don’t want to put your patients through that experience. But is your facility doing enough to prevent it? For the second consecutive year, ECRI Institute addresses…

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Editor's Note This meta-analysis found that a surgeon will have a sharps injury in about 1 in 10 surgical procedures. Of 45 studies analyzed, the incidence rate was 13.2 sharps injuries per 100 time-units. Per 100 person-years, the rate was 88.2 for self-reported injuries, 40.0 for perforations, and 5.8 for administrative…

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The devices and systems we use when diagnosing and treating patients are invaluable to patient care—but they are not perfect. Patients and staff can be harmed if design flaws or system faults aren’t identified and rectified, equipment isn’t adequately maintained or prepared for use, or proper procedures aren’t followed. Preventing…

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Editor's Note The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published a summary of its new Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, online November 12 in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The updated guidelines provide information on types and amounts of physical activity that provide substantial health benefits. For…

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Editor's Note Cigarette smoking rates in the US have dropped to the lowest level ever recorded, according to the November 9 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. The smoking rate for adult smokers fell from 15.5% in 2016 to 14% in 2017, a rate 67% lower than it was in 1965.…

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Editor's Note At 7:30 am, Thursday November 8, With the Camp Fire raging through Paradise, California, staff at Adventist Health Feather River Hospital in Paradise were ordered to evacuate patients and flee themselves, the November 11 nbcnews.com reports. After helping load patients into every vehicle they could find, surgical nurses…

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Editor's Note Excessive opioid prescribing was associated with higher postoperative opioid consumption in this study. In this analysis of 2,392 surgical patients, the quantity of opioids prescribed was significantly higher than opioid consumption, with patients reporting using only 27% of the opioids prescribed to them. Prescription size had the strongest…

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Editor's Note Survey data from thousands of nurses and patients shows that patient safety remains a serious concern and that failure to improve hospital work environments may be hampering progress, finds this study by Linda Aiken, PhD, RN, and colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing. Of 53,644…

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