Uncategorized Editor's Note The Joint Commission, on February 1, announced that new resources are now available in its Health Care Equity Accreditation Standards & Resource Center, chronicling efforts by Boston Medical Center in its healthcare equity journey. The new resources include: Six “Snapshots” (brief synopses) focusing on challenges, successes, and lessons…
Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on January 27 announced that it is proposing to ease blood donation restrictions by focusing on behavior rather than gender and sexual identity. Under current rules, the FDA allows donations from gay and bisexual men if they haven’t had sex with another…
Editor's Note Part 2 of the Benchmark Questionnaire is now open. We ask that you take 10 minutes to participate in Part 2 of this survey to help highlight best OR practices for our readers. There is scarce information currently available about perioperative industry averages and OR operations best practices.…
Editor's Note A study done by investigators from Yale, Harvard, and the University of California-San Francisco, published on January 10 in JAMA, found that “many medical devices subject to recall had received Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval based, in part, on the products’ similarities to earlier devices,” Healthcare Purchasing…
Editor's Note The Joint Commission announced on January 25 that its affiliate Joint Commission International (JCI) has started a new telehealth certification program. To become certified, organizations must demonstrate a culture of continuous improvement through standardized practices and processes while ensuring coordination, communication, and alignment when providing patient care via…
Editor's Note The Joint Commission and National Quality Forum (NQF) on January 23 announced the recipients of the 2022 John M. Eisenberg Patient Safety and Quality Awards. The Awards recognize major achievements by individuals and organizations to improve patient safety and healthcare quality. This year’s recipients; Made advancements related to…
Editor's Note This study from the University of Florida College of Medicine, Gainesville, finds a large degree of variation in fit testing results for N95 masks in healthcare workers (HCWs). The researchers retrospectively analyzed 12,582 qualitative fit testing results for several models of N95 masks in 8,809 HCWs. Among the…
Editor's Note The Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) on January 18 released a revised American National Standard that includes new information for manufacturers and users of personal protective equipment (PPE). The new edition of “ANSI/AAMI PB70:2022, Liquid barrier performance and classification of protective apparel and drapes intended…
Editor's Note ECRI on January 11 announced that it is launching a new monthly video series featuring healthcare insights from its experts. Each episode will include topics of relevance to healthcare leaders, including physicians, nurses, pharmacists, patient safety and risk management professionals, supply chain leaders, and biomedical engineers. The first…
Editor's Note Only about one in seven cases of cancer in the US are detected and diagnosed through cancer screening, The Hill December 15 reports, citing research from independent research institution NORC at the University of Chicago. The researchers found that “just 14% of diagnosed cancers are detected via screening—and…
