FDA: Class I recall of Cordis Precise PRO Rx US Carotid System
Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), on April 26, identified the recall by Cordis Corporation of its Precise PRO Rx US Carotid System as Class I, the most serious. The Carotid System is being recalled due to a risk of separation of the atraumatic distal tip of the…
Study: 6-ft rule inadequate to mitigate indoor airborne transmission of COVID-19
Editor's Note This study by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, finds that the transmission risk of COVID-19 is reduced in large rooms with high air exchange rates, increased with vigorous respiratory activities, and reduced with face masks. The researchers developed a method of calculating exposure risk to…
FDA, CDC lift pause on J&J COVID-19 vaccine
Editor's Note The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), on April 23, announced that after a thorough safety review, the pause on the Janssen/Johnson & Johnson (J&J) COVID-19 vaccine should be lifted, and use of the vaccine should resume. The pause was…
Attacks against healthcare workers on the rise in COVID-19 era
Editor's Note A week and a half after Chicago’s COVID-19 lockdown in 2020, a nurse taking a bus home after her shift was attacked by another passenger because she coughed into the crook of her arm. The nurse was wearing a mask, and she was dressed in scrubs, and she…
FDA: Class I recall of Medtronic’s Extracorporeal Blood Pumping Console
Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), on April 20, identified the recall of Medtronic’s Bio-Console 560 Extracorporeal Blood Pumping Console as Class I, the most serious. The Console is used during heart surgery to pump and return blood to a patient during cardiopulmonary bypass. The recall was initiated…
US anesthesiologists’ burnout rate, risk factors
Editor's Note The prevalence of burnout in anesthesiologists is high, and workplace factors are a big influence, finds this study led by researchers at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Of 3,898 respondents to a survey of American Society of Anesthesiologists members: 59.2% had a high risk of burnout…
The Joint Commission: Aisle widths must have at least 36 inches of clearance
Editor's Note The Joint Commission announced April 21 that, effectively immediately, Life Safety Code surveyors will cite noncompliance in suites with aisles that have less than 36 inches of clearance from side to side to facilitate egress in hospitals and critical access hospitals. The finding will be scored at Life…
Logistics, clinical outcomes associated with converting ORs into an ICU for COVID-19 patients
Editor's Note This study by researchers from the department of anesthesiology, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, and the department of perioperative services-nursing, New York-Presbyterian Hospital, both in New York City, describes how OR and anesthesia personnel converted 23 ORs into an 82-bed operating room intensive care unit (ORICU), ensured staff…
Cleveland Clinic, Mayo Clinic leading campaign to promote COVID-19 vaccination
Editor's Note Cleveland Clinic and Mayo Clinic are leading a coalition of 60 hospitals and healthcare institutions in a nationwide campaign to encourage adults to get vaccinated against COVID-19, Cleveland Clinic announced in an April 20 news release. The “Get the Vaccine to Save Lives” campaign is designed to reassure…
Effect of indoor air changes on COVID-19 transmission
Editor's Note In this JAMA Insights article, researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, and University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, conclude that increasing air changes per hour and air filtration are simple concepts that could be used to help reduce within-room, far-field (ie, within-room but beyond 6 feet)…
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- The Joint Commission launches new telehealth accreditation program