Editor's Note The Joint Commission on June 27 announced that the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) now requires employers (including many healthcare organizations) to report Form 300A data electronically because it no longer accepts paper submissions. Form 300A is a summary of serious work-related injuries and illnesses that occur…

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Editor's Note In this study, many patients reported unused opioids after joint and spine surgery, infrequent use of nonopioid analgesics, and lack of knowledge on safe opioid storage and disposal. Of 140 patients analyzed, 35% were taking preoperative opioids. Among those who stopped taking opioids after surgery, possession of unused…

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Editor's Note Patients having surgery for degenerative spondylolisthesis (DS) are less likely to be dependent on opioids after surgery than before, this study finds. Of 10,708 DS patients who had surgery between 2000 and 2012, 14.85% were opioid dependent within 12 months before surgery, and 9.90% were opioid dependent 3…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission on June 25 released new and revised pain assessment and management standards that will be applicable to accredited critical access hospitals and ambulatory care and office-based surgery organizations, effective January 1, 2019. The standards are designed to strengthen an organization’s practices for pain assessment, treatment,…

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Editor's Note Medicare’s Hospital Acquired Condition Reduction Program’s (HACRP) measure for surgical site infections (SSIs) after hysterectomy and colectomy unfairly places hospitals that are not statistical outliers at risk for financial penalties, this study from the University of Michigan finds. SSIs occurred in 1.1% of hysterectomies and 4.8% of colectomies…

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Editor's Note The US News & World Report on June 26 announced the 2018-2019 Best Children’s Hospitals rankings. Ten hospitals earned a place on the Honor Roll, which awards hospitals that deliver exceptionally high quality care across multiple specialties: Boston Children’s Hospital Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center Children’s Hospital of…

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Editor's Note Patients with diabetes are more likely to have adverse outcomes after surgery, and greater risks are associated with increasing HbA1c levels, this study finds. Of 7,565 patients analyzed, 30% had diabetes and 37% had prediabetes. After adjustments, diabetes was linked to increased: 6-month mortality (9% in patients with…

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Editor's Note An Acquire Market Research report predicts the global spinal fusion market will grow at a 4.54% compound annual growth rate through 2023, according to the June 21 Becker’s Spine Review. Reasons for the predicted growth are the: growing incidence of spinal deformity cases rising healthcare awareness increase in…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission on June 20 announced “Quick Safety 42: Identifying human trafficking victims.” The Quick Safety focuses on: recognizing signs of human trafficking knowing when to involve law enforcement becoming familiar with community resources that can help the victims.

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Editor's Note Malnourished hospitalized surgical and medical patients who participated in a nutrition quality improvement (QI) program had improved readmission rates and length of stay (LOS), but surgical patients had a significantly greater reduction in readmissions than medical patients, in this study. Of 1,269 patients analyzed, 288 were surgical patients…

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