Editor's Note In this study of patients with displaced femoral neck fractures, the incidence of secondary procedures did not differ significantly between patients who had total hip arthroplasty (THA) and those who had hemiarthroplasty. THA was associated with modestly better function over 2 years but with a slightly higher incidence…

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Editor's Note This national survey of surgical residents found that needlesticks occur frequently, many events are not reported, and numerous reporting barriers exist. Of 7,395 respondents from all 260 general surgery residency programs, 27.7% noted experiencing a needlestick in the last 6 months. Most events occurred in the OR (77.5%)…

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Editor's Note In a proposed rule, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is considering whether to reimburse for percutaneous coronary interventions (PCIs) at ambulatory surgical centers (ASCs), the September 20 tctMD reports. As of May 1, 2019, approximately 22 states allowed for coronary interventions to be done outside…

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Editor's Note This study found that surgical site infections (SSIs) occurred most commonly after total joint replacement revision procedures and were related to many patient comorbidities, which were significantly associated with a higher risk of SSIs. In this analysis of 335,134 total knee replacements (TKRs) and 163,547 total hip replacements…

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Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS®) is a comprehensive, multifaceted, and multidisciplinary approach to the care of the surgical patient. ERAS bundles evidence-based elements to facilitate a faster recovery with fewer complications.1 Spanning the continuum of perioperative care, ERAS elements include: • patient engagement and education • preoperative optimization of nutrition…

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Editor's Note Though recent guidelines mandating additional barrier attire for all scrubbed and unscrubbed OR personnel from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and Joint Commission, which include bouffant caps covering all hair and long-sleeved surgical attire covering all exposed skin, this study finds that this mandate does…

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Editor's Note Overlapping, nonconcurrent surgery was not associated with an increase in serious unanticipated events in this study. Of 61,525 surgical procedures performed over 1 year at a large academic medical center, a total of 8,391 patients had any overlap (beginning or end) and were matched on 11 variables. Compared…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission on September 11 announced that it had posted a new version of the Comprehensive Cardiac Center (CCC) Certification program’s standardized measures implementation guide on its website with updated measure specifications. Beginning January 1, 2020, data collection on five new inpatient performance measures will be mandatory…

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Editor's Note This study found a very large variability in the use of postoperative opioids in different countries. The study sample included 129,379 opioid-naïve patients in the US, 84,653 in Canada, and 9,802 in Sweden. More than 70% of surgical patients in the US (76.2%) and Canada (78.6%) filled opioid prescriptions…

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Editor's Note In this study, a significant association was found between exposure to World Trade Center dust and long-term cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in firefighters. Of 9,796 firefighters analyzed, those who arrived first at the World Trade Center when dust was the thickest were found to have a 44% increased…

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