Editor's Note For the third straight year, Boston Children’s Hospital tops the US News & World Report’s Best Children’s Hospitals Honor Roll. Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia was second, and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center was third. US News bases its honor roll on how hospitals rank in each of 10…

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Editor's Note Treating contaminated surgical instruments with alcohol, allowing them to dry, or allowing them to soak in water for extended periods of time increases cleaning difficulty and may contribute to sterilization inefficacy, this study finds. Soaking or spraying instruments with alcohol significantly reduced viable bacterial numbers, but significantly increased…

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Editor's Note A new Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center study finds that the body repairs DNA damage more efficiently if workers sleep during the night than if they sleep during the day. Unrepaired DNA damage can lead to cancer and other health problems. Using urine specimens collected during night work…

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Editor's Note Leading the Joint Commission’s Top Ten Challenging Standards for accredited ambulatory health care organizations during the past year was infection control standard IC.02.02.01, EP 2: The organization reduces the risk of infections associated with medical equipment, devices, and supplies by performing a high-level disinfection and sterilization. In 2016,…

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Editor's Note The combination of two molecular biology tests is the first to distinguish, with near certainty, pancreatic lesions that mimic early signs of cancer but are completely benign, this study finds. The vascular endothelial growth factor-A test alone singled out benign serious cystic neoplasms with a sensitivity of 100%…

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Editor's Note Despite widespread adoption of contact precautions for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE), there is no strong clinical trial evidence to support the mandated use of these precautions, three noted infection prevention researchers say. Without the support of evidence, policy makers from 2000 to 2010 passed…

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Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on June 23 posted the recall by Fagron Sterile Services (Wichita, Kansas) of three lots of succinylcholine chloride 20 mg/mL 5 mL syringes because of microbial growth detected during a simulation of the manufacturing process. This is a secondary recall of products…

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Editor's Note Cardiac surgical team members recognize distinct critical time points during cardiac surgery, but a high degree of variability exists between members as to the importance of these times, which suggests an absence of a shared mental model, this study finds. Cardiac team members from three institutions developed a…

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Editor's Note Researchers in the departments of anesthesia and biomedical engineering at Vanderbilt University have created a device that removes alarm sounds while preserving an ICU patient’s ability to hear human and environmental stimuli, notably speech. The in-ear device, which is worn by the patient, eliminates alarm sounds from the…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission on June 21 announced its new, free venous thromboembolism (VTE) compendium of resources. The compendium was developed to help clinicians, healthcare educators, and other healthcare professionals provide reliable and up-to-date patient education materials for VTE and anticoagulation therapy. Joint Commission Online Weekly Newsletter

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