Editor's Note A change of policy to allow the practice of overlapping surgery for urgent neurosurgical procedures in a tertiary care, safety-net hospital significantly reduced length of stay, in this study presented May 1 at the American Association of Neurological Surgeons in New Orleans. Of 452 cases analyzed (201 in…

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Editor's Note In an effort to bridge political differences and provide a constructive path forward, leaders of the American College of Surgeons (ACS) Committee on Trauma on April 19 released a set of strategies to reduce firearm-related injury, disability, and death by making ownership of firearms as safe as possible.…

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Editor's Note In this study, a significant mismatch was found between parents’ and pediatric surgeons’ expectations on the role of the surgeon on the day of surgery, with parents expecting more direct involvement by the attending surgeon. A total of 110 parents and 84 pediatric surgeons and surgical residents completed…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission on April 17 announced that it had issued a new Sentinel Event Alert 59: Physical and verbal violence against healthcare workers. The Joint Commission issued the alert during Workplace Violence Awareness Month to help healthcare workers in hospitals and other healthcare settings recognize violence from…

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The OR isn’t exempt from the effects of the opioid crisis. Identifying patients taking opioids is part of OR clinicians’ responsibilities, and they also play an important role in preventing opioid addiction. “We have patients who have opioid use disorder [OUD] and neglect to tell us,” says Mary Jo Steiert,…

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According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 2 million Americans have a prescription-related opioid use disorder, and 46 people die from a prescription opioid-related overdose every day—more than a fourfold increase since 1999. Statistics like these are in the news nearly every day, and there is…

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OR Manager, Inc., and ECRI Institute have joined in a collaboration to bring OR Manager readers periodic articles on topics such as medical technology management and procurement, risk management, and patient safety. ECRI Institute is an independent nonprofit that researches the best approaches to improving patient care. Opioids are the…

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Editor's Note In this study, 30-day complications rates increased after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned against the use of power morcellation in women undergoing hysterectomy for benign gynecologic indications. In a cohort of 75,487 women who had hysterectomies, statistically and clinically significant increases in major (1.9% to 2.4%)…

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Editor's Note Though still underused, this study found civilian prehospital tourniquet application tied to a six-fold reduction in mortality in peripheral vascular injuries. The Texas Tourniquet Study Group analyzed 1,026 patients with vascular injuries of the arms or legs admitted to 11 Level I trauma centers in Texas from 2011…

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Editor's Note Joint Commission president Mark R. Chassin, MD, FACP, says he doesn’t want healthcare organizations to just imagine a day of zero harm, he wants them to achieve it, the Joint Commission announced on April 4. Dr Chassin talked about “Leading the Way to Zero” in an article for…

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