Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on October 31 issued a Medical Device Safety Communication on tracheostomy tube shortages. Included in the shortages are Bivona tracheostomy tubes manufactured by ICU Medical, which are more likely to affect pediatric patients. Also on the shortage list are JOH Tube Tracheostomy…

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Editor's Note As of November 1, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) listed 26 amoxicillin products on its current drug shortages site. The FDA says increased demand is the largest cause of the shortage. The FDA does not list resupply dates, but the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) estimates…

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Editor's Note University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) facilities will be testing a new health app designed to help patients easily manage their care before and after a surgical procedure, HealthLeaders Media  October 20 reports. “Surgery can be incredibly difficult on a patient’s body; in some cases, it can have…

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Editor's Note The American Journal of Infection Control published a study on October 13 showing the risks of manually cleaning medical equipment, Healthcare Purchasing News October 14 reports. The study emphasizes the importance of proper procedures and the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) to reduce risk of contamination. The…

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Editor's Notes Sherry Rogers, director of robotics at Emory Healthcare, identified key elements for establishing operational excellence in robotic surgery during this breakout session on the last day of the conference. Rogers noted the practices and procedures she and her colleagues apply to Emory’s robotics program that have helped them…

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Editor’s Note A new research study, titled “Comparison of Quality Performance Measures for Patients Receiving In-Person vs Telemedicine Primary Care in a Large Integrated Health System” and published by JAMA Network on September 26, showed that telehealth performed better than in-person services in 11 out of 16 measurements for care,…

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Editor's Note In this study from Harvard Medical School, Boston, researchers find that the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with shifts in the focus of industry payments for research to physicians and teaching hospitals and an immediate and sustained decline in payments for marketing. During the study period (2018 to 2021), 705,490…

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Editor's Note This week—October 2 to 8—is National Healthcare Supply Chain week (or SC Week). The Association for Healthcare Resource & Materials Management (AHRMM), a member of the American Hospital Association and a membership group for healthcare supply chain professionals, shared tips and best practices for how to recognize and…

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Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on September 30 identified the recall by LivaNova (TandemLife) of its LifeSPARC System, Model LS-1000, as Class I, the most serious. The recall was initiated because of the risk of unintentional extended pump stop during Controller Critical Failure mode, caused by a…

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Editor's Note Researchers at Vanderbilt University have developed a machine learning algorithm that performs as well as human at identifying skin lesions in clinical photographs of people with monkeypox, Healthcare Purchasing News September 27 reports. The report appeared in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology on September 15. The severity of…

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