Editor's Note In this study, researchers at the Massachusetts General Hospital, designed, implemented, and assessed the effect of the first surgery-specific peer support program in the US. The program uses five steps: creation of a conceptual framework choice of peer supporters training of peer supporters multifaceted identification of major adverse…

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Editor's Note Boston Scientific announced December 13 that it had received Food & Drug Administration (FDA) 510(k) clearance for the EXALT Model D Single-Use Duodenoscope for use in endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) procedures. The EXALT Model D, which was granted Breakthrough Device Designation from the FDA, eliminates the need for…

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Editor's Note In this study from New York University Rory Meyers College of Nursing, nurses were found to sleep nearly an hour and a half less before work days than before days off, affecting patient care and safety. Using data from two surveys of 1,568 nurses collected in 2015 and…

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Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on December 16 announced that Medtronic has recalled its SynchroMed II implantable infusion pump. The pump is being recalled because of the potential presence of foreign particles inside the pump motor assembly that may lead to a pump motor stall. Medtronic has…

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Editor's Note In this analysis of measurements (ie, staff’s caring, workplace engagement, and work empowerment) assessed before and after implementation of an interprofessional shared governance model, only work empowerment scores of staff working in relationship-based care professional practice models were sustainable and increased progressively and significantly over time. Work engagement…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission announced December 11 that starting January 1, 2020, it will no longer have contracts with ORYX chart-based vendors for accreditation or certification purposes. Hospitals with advanced certification programs must manually enter their performance measure data into the Certification Measure Information Process (CMIP) app on their…

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Editor's Note In this study, active cannabis use disorder was linked to an increased risk of postoperative myocardial infarction (MI). Researchers retrospectively analyzed 4,186,622 elective surgery patients in the Nationwide Inpatient Sample. Of 27,206 patients in the propensity-score matched-pairs cohort, there was no statistically significant difference between those with (400…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission announced December 11 that during the appeals process of he United States Pharmacopeia (USP) 797 chapter revisions, it will evaluate organizations based on the version they have adopted−either 2008 or the 2019 revised chapter. Organizations may not independently choose specific components from both versions, but…

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Editor's Note Integrating artificial intelligence (AI) with surgical decision making could transform care by augmenting the decision to perform surgery, informed consent process, identification and mitigation of modifiable risk factors, decisions on postoperative management, and shared decision for resource use, this review finds. Surgical decision making involves hypothetical-deductive reasoning, individual…

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Editor's Note Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas have developed a new software tool that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to recognize cancer cells from digital pathology images, a December 9 UT Southwestern news release reports. The spatial distribution of different types of cells can reveal a cancer’s growth…

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