Editor's Note Hospital employment rose 0.15% in May to a seasonally adjusted 5,104,400 workers, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported on June 2. This is 7,400 more employees than in April and 95,500 more than a year ago. The nation’s unemployment rate fell by 0.1% in May to 4.3%.…

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Editor's Note Ketamine does not decrease delirium or lower levels of pain in older adults after major surgery and might cause harm by inducing hallucinations and nightmares, this study finds. A total of 672 patients were randomly assigned to a placebo group (222 patients), a 0.5 mg/kg ketamine group (227),…

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Editor's Note According to statistics from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), in 2014, 17.2 million hospital visits (inpatient and outpatient) included surgical procedures. More than half (57.8%) occurred in a hospital-owned outpatient surgery setting, and the remaining (42.2%) were inpatient. Private insurance was the primary payer for…

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Editor's Note The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued a guide summarizing technical assistance resources available to small, underserved, and rural hospitals participating in the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) and the Advanced Alternative Payment Model (AAPM). The guide also provides resources for quality innovation networks and…

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Editor's Note Quality improvement (QI) measures can be effective in reducing readmissions, relative to the status quo, but cost savings vary, this meta-analysis finds. In this review of 50 QI studies, interventions reduced readmissions by an average of 12.1% for heart failure patients and 6.3% among the general population. However,…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission on May 31 announced the revision of requirements for National Patient Safety Goal (NPSG) 7: Reduce the risk of healthcare-associated infections. The changes are effective January 1, 2018. The requirements include: NPSG.07.03.01−Multidrug-resistant organisms. The changes help address infection prevention strategies to contain outbreaks, which now…

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Editor's Note Research N Reports predicts the global healthcare information technology (IT) market will grow by 15.9% and reach $280.25 billion by 2021, according to the May 30 Healthcare Informatics. The growth is driven by demand for healthcare IT solutions that help lower costs while meeting regulatory requirements. Other factors…

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Editor's Note Older patients who had major abdominal surgery and received interventions that included daily orienting communication, oral and nutritional assistance, and early mobilization were less likely to experience delirium and had a shorter hospital length of stay (LOS), this study finds. A total of 377 patients were included in…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission on May 30 posted addendums to its Sentinel Event Alert, Issue 47: Radiation risks of diagnostic imaging. Risks associated with ionizing radiation in diagnostic imaging included cancer, burns, and other injuries. The addendums update broken links, resources, and references. Sentinel Event Alert, Issue 47: Radiation…

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Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on May 30 identified the recall by Zimmer Biomet (Warsaw, Indiana) of its SpF PLUS-Mini and SpF XL IIB implantable spinal fusion stimulators as Class I, the most serious. The recall was initiated because of higher than allowed levels of potential harmful…

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