Editor's Note Using a learning culture perspective that acknowledges blame and responsibility can facilitate learning from mistakes, this Canadian study finds. A total of 19 physicians were interviewed on their experiences in learning from medical errors. Memories of mistakes from residence training stood out, and participants expressed feeling both responsible…

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Editor's Note A machine learning algorithm based on data from the American College of Cardiology’s National Cardiovascular Data Registry accurately identified patients at risk for bleeding during or after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) surgery, the August 23 Health IT Analytics reports. Researchers developed the platform using a risk spectrum…

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Editor's Note This review article finds that surgical smoke is dangerous, but the severity of the risk has yet to be been determined. Therefore, no safe level is known. Though numerous studies have been performed on the chemical composition of surgical smoke, the components remain unclear. The variability is likely…

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Healthcare providers have seen a steady stream of inpatient-only procedures migrate to ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) over the past few years. Medicare is reimbursing an increasing number of procedures performed in the outpatient setting, many of them cardiovascular in nature. This issue of ASC Manager explores the development of a…

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Editor's Note This study finds that the amount of opioids prescribed for patients after cardiothoracic surgery has a direct relationship with the risk for opioid dependence and persistent opioid use several months after surgery. Of nearly 25,000 opioid-naïve Medicare patients analyzed, 15.7% of patients who had lung surgery and 12.5%…

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Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration on August 22 identified the recall by Edwards Lifesciences of all lots of its SAPIEN 3 Ultra Delivery System as Class I, the most serious. The delivery system is part of the Edwards SAPIEN 3 Transcatheter Heart Valve System. The recall was initiated…

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Editor's Note Unclear policies and urgent competing responsibilities in the OR create stress, suggesting that the environment is the primary contributor to disruptive behavior by the surgeon, this study finds. Of 314 reports of disruptive behavior from surgical, medical, and other specialties, which included both the reporter account and involved…

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Editor's Note A new surgical risk/benefit calculator that can predict a bariatric/metabolic patient’s possibility of postoperative remission at 1 year for five weight-related comorbidities will soon be released by the Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Accreditation and Quality Improvement Program (MBSAQIP), the American College of Surgeons (ACS) announced on August 20.…

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Editor's Note In this study, postoperative delirium in patients averaging 80 years old was linked to long-term detrimental outcomes after major orthopedic surgical procedures. Of 130 patients analyzed, 34 developed postoperative in-hospital delirium. Patients with postoperative delirium had a greater decline in activities of daily living at 2 to 3…

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Editor's Note This study found a trend of increasing risk of surgical site infections (SSIs) for almost all surgery types when body mass index (BMI) increased from normal to morbidly obese. Of 387,919 patients analyzed in the Dutch national surveillance network PREZIES, 1% were underweight, 30% had normal weight, 40%…

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