Editor's Note Researchers at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) and the University Hospital Dresden (UKD) have developed a portable, droplet-based millifluidic device that can monitor patients for postoperative pancreatic fistula in the critical first days after surgery. The same technology might also be expanded to analyze other body fluids and diseases.…

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Takeaways Research shows that there are high nurse burnout rates from systemic workplace issues, including unmanageable case-loads, poor communication, excessive administrative burdens and an overall lack of care. Nurse wellness programs—including resilience training, peer-to-peer counseling, and meditation—are critical, because of high exposure to trauma and suffering, but these efforts need…

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Sterile Processing Department (SPD) managers and technicians know a thing or two about pressure. In a recent webinar covering sterile processing basics, Cori L. Ofstead, MSPH, president and CEO of Ofstead & Associates, Inc, and Abby Smart, MPH, research associate, cited the example of a 480-bed hospital that performed 13,650…

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Editor's Note Data published February 21 in The BMJ points to air pollution as a factor in increased hospital admissions for major heart diseases.  According to the Global Burden of Disease study, exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) accounts for 7.6% of total mortality and 4.2% of disability-adjusted life years…

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Editor's Note Nationwide pharmacy delays and disrupted internal systems are among the effects of a February 21 cyberattack on Change Healthcare, one of the largest healthcare technology companies in the United States. Systems were immediately disconnected to protect partners and patients, the organization reports, and “all other systems across UnitedHealth…

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Editor's Note Using early postoperative endoscopy to detect anastomotic leakage after minimally invasive esophagectomy does not increase postoperative adverse events, according to a study published February 10 in the journal Surgery. Anastomotic leakage is one of the most severe adverse events of minimally invasive esophagectomy for esophageal cancer. Often deadly,…

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Editor's Note Using intravascular imaging to guide stent implantation during percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) provides significantly better outcomes than angiography, according to findings published February 21 in The Lancet. In a study of 15,964 patients undergoing PCI from 22 trials in hundreds of centers from March 2010 to August 2023,…

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Editor's Note The FDA has issued a warning regarding fraudulent, duplicated and otherwise unreliable data coming from third party test labs that produce data for medical device companies, including many based in India and China. Issued February 20, the alert warns medical device manufacturers that they are responsible for confirming the…

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Editor's Note Amid a nationwide shortage of anesthesiologists straining many healthcare systems, new data from the Kaiser Family Foundation offers a state-by-state comparison of the number of anesthesiologists per physician. As of January 2024, the data reveal that Indiana leads states with the most anesthesiologists per physician at 13.12% (1,211…

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Editor's Note A magnetically operated robot developed by the Multi-Scale Robotics Lab in Zurich along with several hospitals in Switzerland could be used to treat people in the critical moments following a stroke to remove blockage and resume blood flow. The findings were published February 14 in the journal Science…

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