Editor's Note The Leapfrog Group’s annual awards on hospital quality and patient safety recognized 98 top facilities for 2015. Out of the 98 facilities honored, 12 were children’s hospitals, 24 were rural hospitals, and 63 were urban hospitals. California, Massachusetts, and Maine had the most top hospitals on the list.…

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Editor's Note Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs) are the main anesthesia providers ensuring patient access to anesthesia care in lower-income areas where patients are more likely to be uninsured, unemployed, and/or Medicaid eligible, this study finds. Anesthesiologists are more closely aligned with counties that have higher income populations. Lessening restrictions…

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Editor's Note Surgical unit safety culture was significantly associated with lower colon surgical site infection (SSI) rates in this study led by Martin A. Makary, MD, MPH, professor of surgery, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore. Dimensions of safety culture that were linked with lower SSI rates, included: teamwork across units organizational…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission and AABB (formerly known as the American Association of Blood Banks) have announced a partnership to provide a joint hospital certification program for patient blood management. The voluntary certification will be available in 2016 and is based on the AABB Standards for a Patient Blood…

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Editor's Note New clinical practice guidelines from the Society of Thoracic Surgeons recommend the use of arteries from the chest and forearm rather than using veins from the leg for coronary artery bypass grafting. The left internal thoracic artery is considered the gold standard conduit for coronary bypass and has…

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Editor's Note The American Society of Anesthesiologists on December 7 released a new resource for hospitals, physicians, and OR personnel—the Operating Room Mass Casualty Management checklist. The tool helps anesthesiologists and OR personnel optimize their response and better manage the flow of patient care during mass casualty events. The checklist…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission on December 7 announced a new Standards BoosterPak on high-level disinfection and sterilization. A Standards BoosterPak is a searchable document that provides detailed information about a standard that has been associated with a high volume of inquiries or non-compliance scores. The goal of the new…

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Editor's Note Significant progress has been made toward transforming nursing roles, responsibilities, and education to meet the nation’s healthcare needs, according to a report from the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. The report assesses the progress made since the Institute of Medicine’s 2010 report on the future of…

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Editor's Note A survey of 298 attendees at a November 9 KPMG webinar on the transition to ICD-10 gleaned the following responses: 28% said the transition had been smooth 51% found “a few technical issues but overall successful” 11% described the transition as a “failure to operate in an ICD-10…

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Editor's Note The Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) Foundation has released a compendium to help healthcare organization meet the Joint Commission’s National Patient Safety Goal (NPSG) on clinical alarms. The compendium provides specific tips and outlines practices in use by leading institutions. Beginning January 1, 2016, the…

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