Editor's Note The Joint Commission on May 31 issued a new Quick Safety advisory to help prepare healthcare organizations for disasters such as, power failure, fire, flood, industrial accident, or cyberattack. The advisory, "Quick Safety 41: Emergency management: Need for continuity of operations planning," provides risk factors, safety recommendations, and…

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Editor's Note The Food & Drug Administration on June 1 identified the recall by Medtronic of its HeartWare Ventricular Assist Device (HVAD) system as Class I, the most serious. The recall was initiated because of the possibility for an interruption to occur in the electrical connection between the system’s power…

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Editor's Note Approximately one-third of casualties during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars resulted from nonbattle injuries (NBIs), this study finds. In this analysis of 29,958 casualties (battle injuries and NBIs), NBIs caused 34.1% of total casualties and 11.5% of all deaths. Rates of NBIs were higher among women than men…

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Editor's Note Getting to know staff members and supporting that interaction with data helps leaders grow teams, S. Chris Edmonds says in the May 24 Great Leadership. To influence others in the workplace, Edmonds says: Connect with people at all levels and learn their names, their passions, what hinders their…

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Editor's Note A Crystal Market Research report predicts the spinal implant and surgical devices market will top $15.7 billion by 2025, with a compound annual growth rate of 4.44%, according to the May 24 Becker’s Spine Review. The market will grow because of the rising geriatric population and enhanced technology.…

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Editor's Note The American College of Surgeons on May 23 announced that a partnership between the Military Health System and civilian trauma institutions is underway to create the first fully integrated military-civilian trauma system. The system will train military surgeons before deployment, help surgeons retain skills while deployed, and bring…

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Editor's Note Awake video assisted thoracic surgery (AVATS) performed with local anesthesia and sedation allows for resection of lung cancers previously deemed inoperable because of a patient’s poor pulmonary function, finds this study presented May 23 at the American Thoracic Society International Conference in San Diego. For the study, 246…

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Editor's Note Though the overall frequency of peripheral nerve block use in outpatient surgery is low, regional anesthesia offers significant positive effects for postoperative outcomes and hospital efficiency metrics, this study finds. Of 12,911,056 outpatient surgical procedures in the National Anesthesia Clinical Outcomes Registry, 3,297,372 (25.5%) were amenable to a…

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Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration on May 22 identified the recall by Abbott of all lots of its HeartMate 3TM Left Ventricular Assist System as Class I, the most serious. The recall was issued because of a malfunction in the device’s outflow graft assembly that may cause the…

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Editor's Note Working the night shift and sleeping during the day for just a few days can disrupt levels and time-of-day patterns of more than 100 proteins in the blood (ie, plasma proteomes), this study finds. Six healthy men volunteers in their 20s spent 6 days in the clinical translational…

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