Editor's Note What is it that only great leaders can do? “Give direction, not directions,” writes Scott Eblin in the November 20 eblingroup.com/blog. Leaders need to set a “commander’s intent” that gives team members a clear sense of why a task is important, what it will result in, and where…
Editor's Note The Joint Commission on November 20 announced an update to the book, “Planning, Design, and Construction of Health Care Facilities,” which was developed in partnership with the American Institute of Architects Academy of Architecture for Health (AIA/AAH). This 4th edition includes: Eight new case studies that highlight design challenges,…
Editor's Note To lead others, managers must first know how to lead themselves, writes Laurie Ruettimann in the November 17 laurieruettimann.com. Leadership is only possible after managers know what they stand for, where they come from, what they intend to do, and how they actually act, Ruettimann says. Self-leadership is…
Editor's Note The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) on November 15 announced that it had cleared for marketing in the US the first duodenoscope with a sterile, disposable elevator component. The clearance of the Pentax Medical Video ED34-i10T2 duodenoscope represents a major step toward lowering the risk of infection in…
Editor's Note Compared to the historical mean (HM) scheduling approach, the data-driven regression modeling (RM) method improves multiple measures of operative suite efficiency and personnel satisfaction without adversely affecting clinical outcomes, this study finds. The HM approach included case duration of the most recent 4 years, and the RM system…
Editor's Note Ambulatory surgery center (ASC) outpatient procedures were more efficiently performed than those performed at a hospital outpatient department (HOP) in this study. Of 220 procedures included in the study (114 ASC, 106 HOP): mean turnover time was 29.8 minutes for HOP vs 24.5 for ASC ancillary time was…
Editor's Note ECRI Institute on November 7 announced that it opposes a total ban of commercial ethylene oxide (EtO) sterilization operations because it could result in widespread shortages of sterile medical devices. Hospitals around the country reported device shortages after a large Illinois-based sterilization plant closed because of state environmental…
Editor's Note Employment in US hospitals was up 2,100 jobs in October to a seasonally adjusted 5,270,600, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on November 1. That’s up 91,300 more employees than a year ago. Overall, healthcare employment has increased 402,100 in the past year. The overall unemployment rate was…
Editor's Note The Food & Drug Administration on October 30 announced the nationwide recall by ICU Medical (San Clemente, California) of one lot of Lactated Ringer’s Injection, USP, and one lot of 0.9% Sodium Chloride Injection because of the presence of particulate matter. The affected lot numbers are: Lactated Ringer’s…
Editor's Note The Joint Commission on October 29 announced that the deadline for onboarding to the Direct Data Submission (DDS) Platform for submission of CY 2019 electronic clinical quality measures (eCQMs) is December 20. Organizations that submitted CY 2018 eCQMs through the DDS Platform do not need to be onboarded…