Editor's Note Researchers from the University of Minnesota and M Health Fairview are using artificial intelligence (AI) to detect COVID-19 in chest x-rays of hospitalized patients. The researchers used 18,000 x-rays from COVID-19 patients and 100,000 x-rays from patients without the disease to develop and train an AI program to…

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Preventing infection transmission has been a chief concern of healthcare leaders and staff striving to protect their patients and themselves from SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. The virus poses an insidious threat that includes the possibility of bronchoscopy-associated transmission of COVID-19. Long before the pandemic, epidemiologist and researcher Cori…

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Results from the 2020 annual OR Manager Salary/Career Survey show that despite the turbulent times, most OR leaders view their work favorably; 77% are satisfied with their jobs, with nearly a third describing themselves as “completely satisfied.” This might seem surprising in light of COVID-19, but many nurse leaders are…

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With more technologically advanced procedures being performed in ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs), it’s increasingly important to monitor data on supplies and manage physician preferences for particular implants. Physicians don’t always realize that reimbursement is lower for many procedures performed in an ASC than in hospitals, and therefore they may not…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission on October 7 issued a new Quick Safety that focuses on the use of telehealth to deliver patient care while preventing exposure to COVID-19. Other benefits of telehealth in the Quick Safety include: promoting social distancing monitoring the progression of home-quarantined COVID-19 patients enabling providers…

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Editor's Note Leandro Pecchia, PhD, associate professor of biomedical engineering at the University of Warwick, Coventry, UK, has been awarded £13 million (nearly $17 million) for the ODIN project. The project will explore the use of robots and artificial intelligence (AI) to ease pressures on hospitals during recovery from COVID-19…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission on September 30 announced a revision to its Environment of Care (EC) standard EC.02.04.03, element of performance (EP) 34, which will take effect January 1, 2021, for ambulatory care organizations, office based surgery practices, hospitals, and critical access hospitals. The Joint Commission has determined that…

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Editor's Note This study from the University of California, San Diego; Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore; and Institute for Disease Modeling, Bellevue, Washington, finds that acute anxiety spiked early during the COVID-19 pandemic but has since returned to typical levels. Researches examined internet searchers indicative of acute anxiety that originated from…

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Editor's Note In an August 17 news release, the ECRI Institute and its affiliate, the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP), announced that they had launched a new Patient Safety Organization (PSO). The PSO is an important step in making medication, medical devices, and healthcare practices safer for patients across…

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Editor's Note The use of an automated web-based symptom monitoring tool as part of Maine's COVID-19 contact tracing program made the state's contact tracing and monitoring faster and more efficient. The tool was well received, with the majority of monitored contacts (96.4%) agreeing to the automated system. Contacts automatically received…

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