Editor's Note ECRI, on March 14, issued its annual list of Patient Safety Concerns, which is dominated this year by staffing shortages and healthcare workers’ mental health that have been made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic. In the past, the top concerns were typically associated with clinical issues caused by…

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Editor's Note The American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) announced on March 8 that it had joined with 14 leading medical specialty organizations to establish seven guiding principles to address the treatment of acute perioperative pain in complex surgical patients. The new principles were developed during a second landmark pain summit…

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Editor's Note This study from Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, finds that a multicomponent safety intervention, consisting of patient education, home medication review, and hazard identification in the home environment, was not associated with reductions in falls during the first year after an elective inpatient surgical procedure, but…

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Editor's Note Two years after the COVID-19 pandemic began, inflation, money issues, and the war in Ukraine have pushed US stress to alarming levels, according to the American Psychological Association (APA). APA partnered with the The Harris Poll to conduct a survey between February 7 and 14, 2022, and again…

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Editor's Note The Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) on March 8 announced the publication of a new report outlining actions needed to successfully battle future pandemics while fighting the rise in healthcare-associated infections (HAIs). Some recommendations in the 66-page report, titled “Between a Rock and Hard…

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Editor's Note New findings from the University of Michigan's "National Poll on Healthy Aging" show that while most adults between the ages of 50 and 80 express concerns when opting to have elective surgery, 2 in 3 are “very satisfied with the outcome” post-procedure, according to a March 9 American…

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Editor's Note According to the 2022 Key ASC Benchmarks and Industry Figures report published by Avanza Healthcare Strategies, an ASC consulting firm, cardiology is the fastest growing ASC specialty, Becker’s ASC Review March 10 reports. The Avanza report was released on March 8 and is a “compilation of recently [as…

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Editor's Note This study from Norway, a country with a 90% primary vaccination rate, finds that a secondary attack rate of COVID-19 was higher when the individual's primary case was the Omicron variant. All Norwegian residents were tracked from December 1, 2021, to January 8, 2022, the period when Omicron…

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Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration on March 7 posted the recall by Fresenius Kabi USA (Lake Zurich, Illinois) of seven lots of its Sodium Acetate Injection, USP, 400 mEq/100 mL The recall was initiated because of the presence of particulate matter found in reserve and/or stability sample vials.…

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Editor's Note This study led by researchers at the City of Hope National Medical Center, Duarte, California, finds that shortages of shoe covers, disposable head covers, and single-use facemasks during the COVID-19 pandemic did not increase surgical site infections (SSIs). Researchers compared SSI rates reported to the National Healthcare Safety…

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