CDC revises indoor mask guidance for fully vaccinated
Editor's Note The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on July 27 released new guidance recommending that “fully vaccinated people wear masks in public indoor settings” in areas with high COVID-19 transmission rates. The CDC cited data showing that some vaccinated people who tested positive for the Delta variant…
Study: Monoclonal antibodies help prevent hospitalization in high-risk COVID-19 patients
Editor's Note In this study by Mayo Clinic researchers, two monoclonal antibodies administered separately helped prevent hospitalization in high-risk COVID-19 patients. Included in the analysis were 2,747 patients who received bamlanivimab and 849 patients who received casirivimab-imdevimab from November 19, 2020, to February 11, 2021. After 28 days, all cause…
ACS strongly opposes Medicare cuts to surgical patient care
Editor's Note In a July 14 news release, the American College of Surgeons (ACS) said the proposed Medicare physician fee schedule for CY 2022 poses a threat to surgical patient care. The proposed rule from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) maintains cuts to surgical care that Congress…
The Joint Commission revises Sentinel Event definition, policy
Editor's Note The Joint Commission on July 21 announced new revisions to its Sentinel Event definition and policy that will apply to all accreditation and certification programs, except for Health Care Staffing Services and Integrated Care certification programs, effective January 1, 2022. The revisions clarify expectations regarding an organization’s partnership…
ACS updates standards for children’s surgical care
Editor's Note The American College of Surgeons (ACS) announced the release of the second version of its Optimal Resources for Children’s Surgical Care manual on July 14 at the 2021 ACS Quality and Safety Conference. The updated standards include principles on hospital resources, quality improvement and safety processes, data collection,…
Researchers raise the alarm on splashing during reprocessing--Part 2
Part 1 of this two-part series discussed the splashes and the potential for exposure to pathogens that personnel face daily in sterile processing and endoscopy departments, as well as the current guidelines and strategies for reducing exposures (OR Manager, July 2021, pp 1, 9-11, 15). These risks were derived from…
Educate to mitigate workplace violence in healthcare--Part 1
Increased tensions during the COVID-19 pandemic have contributed to a spate of violent incidents, many of them directed at healthcare workers (HCWs). About 20% of respondents to a National Nurses United survey in late 2020 of more than 15,000 US registered nurses reported an increase in on-the-job violence caused by…
Editorial
The Joint Commission on June 18 issued prepublication standards for its New and Revised Workplace Violence Prevention Requirements, which will apply to all Joint Commission-accredited hospitals starting January 1, 2022. Revisions range from some wording changes in existing requirements to the addition of new Elements of Performance (EP) within certain…
COVID-19 driving the move to regional anesthesia
Cancellations of some surgical procedures during the COVID-19 pandemic and case rescheduling have been a major focus for perioperative leaders. But changes are also occurring in anesthesia practices. For many surgical procedures, the use of regional anesthesia or nerve blocks, coupled with light sedation, is reported to double if the…
New term clarifies instrument point-of-use treatment
What exactly is required to prepare instruments for transport to the decontamination room after a surgical procedure? Point-of-use cleaning, which may also be referred to as precleaning, has been used to describe instrument preparation at the point of use after a surgical procedure. But both point-of-use cleaning and precleaning have…
