For BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color) leaders who are healthcare professionals, ensuring the delivery of quality care is often made more difficult by the racial or ethnic bias they may encounter within their organizations. In this article, five BIPOC perioperative leaders share their experiences and offer advice for…

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Editor's Note Patients who talk with their physicians are more likely to get vaccinated during a pandemic, finds this study of evidence collected during the H1N1 (swine flu) pandemic in 2009. In this survey of more than 19,000 people nationwide, researchers from Washington State University, Pullman, and the University of…

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Editor's Note Cindy Kildgore, MSHA, BSN, RN, CNOR, has been appointed the new Education Coordinator for the OR Manager Conference. Kildgore will head the 2021 OR Manager Conference Program Committee, comprising twenty perioperative leaders, to build the event’s conference agenda. Kildgore was a perioperative services director for more than 20…

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Editor's Note In this study, surgical patients reported improved communication when their surgeons wore clear masks rather than standard masks in surgical outpatient clinics. This randomized trial of 200 patients in 15 surgeons’ clinics spanning seven specialties finds that when surgeons wore clear rather than standard masks, the patients rated…

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Editor's Note A Foley & Lardner survey finds that state telehealth reimbursement laws have significantly increased during the COVID-10 pandemic, but more can be done to address telehealth adoption barriers, the February 15 Revcycle Intelligence reports. More than 43 states and Washington, DC, have some telehealth statute for commercial payers,…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission, on February 8, issued a new Quick Safety addressing safe, equitable care during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Quick Safety focuses on actions organizations can take to: address racial and ethnic disparities remove barriers to providing safe, equitable healthcare. The pandemic has put a spotlight on…

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Editor's Note ECRI’s Partnership for Health IT Patient Safety and the Electronic Health Record Association, on February 8, released a white paper with five safe practice recommendations and strategies that focus on health IT’s role in screening, documenting, and sharing of information for patients with behavioral health needs. Studies in…

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Editor's Note This study by researchers from Harvard Medical School, Boston, on data from 16.7 million insured individuals, shows that 30.1% of total outpatient visits early in the COVID-19 pandemic (March 18-June 16, 2020) were conducted via telemedicine, and weekly telemedicine visits were 23 times higher, compared with the pre-COVID-19…

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Editor's Note This study by researchers at IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca (Lucca, Italy) finds that unexpected levels of concerns about pneumonia had been raised for several weeks on Twitter before the first cases of COVID-19 infection were officially announced. The researchers also found that these “whistleblowers” came primarily…

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Editor's Note The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), on January 29, issued a federal Public Health Order requiring all individuals to wear masks on nearly all forms of public transportation, and made refusal to wear a mask a violation of federal law. The Order mandates the use of…

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