Editor's Note Postoperative hip fracture patients are more likely to be successfully discharged home if they are rehabilitated in centers that care for at least 25 hip fracture patients per year, this study finds. Successful discharge was 43.7% for high-volume facilities (> 24 admissions/year) vs 18.8% for low-volume facilities (1-6…
Editor's Note A surgeon’s transformational leadership skills were associated with improved OR team behavior, in this study. Each one-point increase in a surgeon’s transformational score corresponded to three times more information-sharing behaviors and nearly five and a half times more voice behaviors among the team members. With each one-point increase…
Editor's Note Specific hospital resources can overcome the weekend effect seen in urgent general surgery procedures, this study finds. Resources that were predictors for overcoming the weekend effect included: full adoption of electronic medical records, home health program, pain management program, increased RN-to-bed ratio, and inpatient physical rehabilitation. The study…
Editor's Note Ambiguous roles and conflicting expectations of team members during OR to intensive care unit (ICU) handoffs can increase risk of patient harm, this study finds. Researchers conducted 38 interviews of clinicians involved in OR to ICU handoffs to characterize the relationship between handoff process failures and patient harm.…
Editor's Note This week, US Senator Mike Crapo (R-ID) introduced the Ambulatory Surgical Center Quality and Access Act of 2015, which is intended to preserve patient access to ASCs, The ASC Association reports. The Act would: Fix a flaw that allows Medicare to use different measures of inflation for ASCs…
Editor's Note The healthcare industry transitioned to the ICD-10 system October 1, expanding procedure codes from 14,000 to 70,000 for providers and from 44,000 to 72,000 for hospitals. Medicare officials say they won’t deny claims to providers solely for lack of specificity for the first 12 months, but that doesn’t…
Editor's Note In this study, the use of a preinduction checklist significantly improved information exchange, knowledge of critical information, and perception of safety in anesthesia teams. A total of 105 teams using the checklist were compared with 100 control teams. The outcome scores for the checklist group vs the controls…
Editor's Note An aspect of “never events”that is rarely discussed is the emotional toll they take on staff, according to this editorial. In each case, staff experience an enormous amount of emotional trauma, and a significant amount of accusation and stigmatization occurs. It is not enough to prevent and manage…
Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), on September 28, issued a safety alert for cranial perforators with an automatic clutch mechanism. Most cranial perforators are designed to automatically stop drilling after penetrating the skull to prevent the tip from unintentionally drilling into the brain. However this clutch mechanism…
Editor's Note A heating, ventilating, and air conditioning task force on September 28 issued interim guidance to help health care facilities maintain appropriate temperature and humidity in ORs and sterile processing departments, AHA News reports. The interim guide was developed as the task force is working to achieve consensus on…
