Editor's Note Hospitals that embrace LGBTQ+ inclusive policies see better nurse retention, improved care quality, and stronger institutional endorsement, according to a large cross-sectional study published on March 25 in JAMA Network. The study examined data from 7,343 nurses across 111 hospitals in New York and Illinois, focusing on the…

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Vaccine health has been dominating the news amid ongoing measles and whooping cough outbreaks and high influenza activity last season. It is also on the minds of The Joint Commission surveyors, as the organization has updated infection control standards that took effect in July 2024 for hospitals and critical access…

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Editor's Note On this National Time Out Day, perioperative leaders are being called to reinvigorate the time-out process to combat complacency and reduce adverse events. Despite decades of safety initiatives, the adverse event rate in surgical care remains high—38% of perioperative cases, with nearly half tied directly to surgical procedures,…

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Editor's Note Wrong-site surgeries are on the rise, and insufficient surgical time outs are a key contributor, according to new data highlighted by AORN on June 10 in honor of this year’s National Time Out Day on June 11. Based on The Joint Commission’s Sentinel Event Data 2023 Annual Review,…

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Editor's Note A recent national survey reveals that nurse managers overwhelmingly prioritize practical, high-impact strategies to ease their workload and support well-being, yet many feel these measures remain under-implemented. According to a Nurse Leader March 31 article, the survey, conducted by Laudio Insights and Vizient, captured input from 231 respondents—177…

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Editor's Note Healthcare employment in the US rose by 62,000 from May to June, according to a June 6 announcement from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The unemployment rate, meanwhile, is unchanged at 4.2%—a narrow range that has been maintained since May 2024. In May, healthcare employment also trended…

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Editor's Note CMS has rescinded a 2022 guidance that protected clinicians providing emergency abortion care under the Emergency Medical Treatment & Labor Act (EMTALA), removing a key federal safeguard for providers in states with abortion restrictions, according to a June 2 article in Becker’s Hospital Review. The guidance, originally issued…

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The wave of new legal requirements for surgical smoke evacuation across the country has given OR leaders a crash course in how to act on any new legislation. Based on this experience, complying with other new and pending laws will put these skills to the test. Major hurdles are likely…

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Editor's Note All newly certified registered nurse anesthetists (CRNAs) in the US will be required to hold a doctoral degree, marking a significant shift in training standards for the profession, according to a May 3 post by James Allen, MD, on his page, “Hospital Medical Director,” also covered by Becker's…

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Editor's Note Greater familiarity between surgeons and anesthesiologists was associated with reduced major morbidity in certain high-risk procedures, according to a Canadian retrospective cohort study published in JAMA Surgery. As detailed in a May 28 report from MedPage Today, the population-based analysis included more than 711,000 index procedures, finding an…

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