Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on August 15 announced the recall by Cook Medical (Bloomington, Indiana) of 8,750 units of its Roadrunner UniGlide Hydrophilic Wire Guides because of concerns about a potential contamination of the wires’ hydrophilic coating with glass particles. The wire guides are used in…

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Editor's Note Appendectomy is cost-effective for abscessed appendicitis in patients less than 34 years old, this study finds. For an 18-year-old patient, appendectomy costs $9,417.22 with a gain of 16.59 quality-adjusted life years (QALYs), compared with no appendectomy, which costs $11,613.57 with a gain of 16.52 QALYs. For a 35-year-old…

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Editor's Note The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on August 15 published a proposed rule on Control of Communicable Diseases. The proposal amends the CDC’s domestic and foreign quarantine regulations to help respond to outbreaks of new or reemerging communicable diseases, such as Ebola, Middle Ease Respiratory Syndrome…

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Editor's Note Several technical and nontechnical skill sets of practicing surgeons were found to be in need of improvement, in this study, which provided support for implementing coaching programs for surgeons on an ongoing basis. A total of 32 surgeons (18 general, 14 gynecologists) from 6 hospitals were assessed; 9…

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Editor's Note In this study, preoperative frailty was associated with a high risk for delirium after cardiac surgery. Of 55 patients included in the analysis, the prevalence of frailty was 30.9%. Frail patient had a higher incidence of delirium (47.1%) compared with nonfrail patients (2.6%). Frailty may be used to…

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Editor's Note The American Hospital Association (AHA) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on August 11 hosted a call for healthcare leaders on the latest Zika virus developments and how to protect patients and caregivers, the August 11 AHA News Now reports. CDC officials said they will soon…

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Editor's Note Implementation of an Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program (CUSP) helped reduce catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs) from 8.6% to 1.1% at the Medical University of South Carolina hospital, AHRQ reports. The hospital infection prevention team focused on achieving zero CAUTIs by improving…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission on August 10 released its updated sentinel event statistics through the second quarter of 2016. Of 439 sentinel events reviewed, two of the most frequently reported types of events in the second quarter were unintended retention of a foreign body (52 patients) and wrong-patient, wrong-site,…

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Editor's Note Nearly 20% of patients are discharged before all vital signs are stable, which is associated with an increased risk of readmission and death, this study finds. Of 32,835 patients from six Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, hospitals analyzed, researchers found abnormalities in temperature, heart rate, blood pressure, respiratory rate, and…

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Editor's Note Medicare Advantage plans paid hospitals 8% less for hospital services than fee-for-service Medicare in 2009 and 2012, finds this study. Researchers also found that commercial insurers paid hospitals much higher than Medicare Advantage or fee-for-service Medicare. Some of this difference is because of higher prices commercial plans pay…

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