Editor's Note Removal of multiple herniated or degenerative discs in the neck, known as anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF), can be safely performed in an outpatient setting, finds this study presented March 13 at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons in Las Vegas. Of 103 patients included in the…

Read More

Editor's Note Intravenous (IV) acetaminophen did not result in a significant difference in pain scores, opioid consumption, or opioid-related adverse events compared with oral acetaminophen, finds this study presented March 12 at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Annual Meeting in Las Vegas. A total of 154 patients having total…

Read More

Editor's Note A 12-month targeted initiative to discharge surgical patients earlier was associated with a 50% increase in patients being discharged by noon in this study. The initiative, which included preoperative and inpatient components: increased discharge by noon rates from 14.3% to 21.5% decreased length of stay (LOS) from 2.17…

Read More

Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on March 8 issued a letter to alert healthcare providers about an increasing number of medical device reports on surgical staplers for internal use and implantable surgical staples. The most common reported problems include opening of the staple line, malformation of staples,…

Read More

Editor's Note Provider attire is a potential source of pathogenic bacterial transmission in healthcare settings, this review study finds. A total of 22 articles were included in this analysis, which found that provider attire was commonly colonized by multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs), with white coats laundered less frequently than scrubs. The…

Read More

Editor's Note The Joint Commission on March 6 announced that it is moving the inpatient and outpatient Total Hip and Total Knee Replacement (THKR) implementation guides from the performance measure webpage to the 2019 Specifications Manual for Joint Commission National Quality Measures. The Manual was published in February. The move will…

Read More

Editor's Note In this study of adult surgical patients across all ages, frailty was associated with higher postoperative rates of major illness and readmissions as well as increased costs. Of 14,530 patients (31.9% inpatient, 68.1% outpatient) analyzed, 3.4% had high frailty (5.3% of inpatients and 2.5% of outpatients). Compared with…

Read More

Editor's Note The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) on March 5 identified the recall by RVO 2.0, Inc (Aliso Viejo, California) of its Raindrop near vision inlay as Class I, the most serious. All lots of the inlay are being recalled because data from the post-approval study showed an increased…

Read More

Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on February 28 issued a Safety Communication on the safety and effectiveness of using robotically-assisted surgical devices in mastectomy procedures or in the prevention or treatment of cancer in women. The FDA cited limited, preliminary evidence that the use of robotically-assisted surgical…

Read More

Editor's Note Long-term opioid use among family members was associated with persistent postoperative opioid use in opioid-naïve adolescents and young adults and should be screened for preoperatively, this study finds. Of 346,251 opioid-naïve patients aged 13 to 21 years having common surgical and dental procedures, persistent opioid use occurred in…

Read More