Editor's Note The Joint Commission on October 16 announced that it was seeking comments on proposed standards for the Advanced Total Hip and Total Knee Replacement Certification program for hospitals, critical access hospitals, and ambulatory surgery centers. The new standards were developed to further promote patient safety and quality of…

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Editor's Note In this study, heart failure with or without symptoms was associated with an increased risk of postoperative mortality at 90-days and complications at 30-days in ambulatory surgery patients. In this analysis of 355,121 patients having noncardiac ambulatory surgical procedures, 90-day mortality was 2% in patients with heart failure…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission announced October 16 that several elements of performance for the Office-Based Surgery Accreditation program have been revised, effective January 1, 2020. The revisions, which are in the Environment of Care chapter, were made to align with 2012 Life Safety Code requirements and updated National Fire…

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Editor's Note This study found that the MINDBODYSTRONG for Healthcare Professionals program has excellent potential as an intervention for improving the mental health, healthy lifestyle beliefs and behaviors, and job satisfaction in newly licensed RNs. Of 89 new RNs (divided into two groups, intervention and control) participating in a nurse…

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Editor's Note The University of California San Diego School of Medicine announced October 14 that it has expanded its Center for the Future of Surgery, one of few facilities in the world that teaches surgery in high-tech simulated ORs. This fall, the 22,000 sq-ft center added a new hybrid OR…

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Editor's Note In this French study, the risk of postoperative pulmonary embolism was elevated beyond 6 weeks regardless of the type of procedure. This analysis of 60,703 patients who had one of six types of surgery (ie, vascular, GYN, GI, hip or knee replacement, fractures, and other orthopedic procedures) found…

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Editor's Note The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) on October 8 announced the recall by Medtronic of all models of its 6 French Sherpa NX Active Guide Catheters. Medtronic is recalling the catheters because of the risk of the outer material separating from the device, resulting in detached fragments that…

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Editor's Note This survey of patients' satisfaction with their anesthesiologists found that some factors governing satisfaction are beyond the ability of the anesthesiologist to control. Of 629,220 patients administered the “Anesthesia Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire” 51,676 patients responded for a 9.3% response rate. After multivariate regression analysis, no patient or procedural…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission announced on Octobere 9 that the 2020 National Patient Safety Goals (NPSGs) are now available on its website. Included are the revised elements of performance “NPSG.15.01.01: Reduce the risk for suicide” that went into effect earlier this year. The new requirements are designed to improve…

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Editor's Note Using machine learning on electronic health record (EHR) postoperative data linked to the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP) outcomes data, researchers developed a model with 163 predictors of postoperative complications at the University of Colorado Hospital. Of 6,840 patients analyzed with the…

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