Editor's Note An increased in adherence to Enhanced Recovery after Surgery (ERAS) protocols was associated with a decrease in postoperative complications in this study. Of 2,084 patients analyzed, 566 had moderate to severe postoperative complications. The number of patients with moderate to severe complications was lower in the ERAS group…

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Editor's Note The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Physician Compare website contains quality information on just 23.3% of the more than 1 million physicians who care for Medicare patients, this study finds. A total of 76.6% of physician had no performance data, and almost none (99.7%) listed on…

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Editor's Note This study by Johns Hopkins researchers finds that the spread of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) bacteria that have high levels of resistance to most antibiotics could be reduced if only 25% of large healthcare facilities in a region used a patient registry. The researchers developed a computer simulation model…

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Artificial intelligence (AI) may be coming to your OR sooner than you think. AI is already being used to identify areas needing quality improvement by analyzing surgical workflow, communication patterns, and errors that went unnoticed during a procedure. OR leaders need to understand AI and participate in its development and…

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Artificial intelligence (AI) seems to pop up in headlines nearly every day. With applications ranging from individual nutritional guidance to prediction of premature death, ever-evolving computer-based algorithms present intriguing possibilities for the future of healthcare. Depending on how proactive your facility is and how rich in resources, you may already…

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Sarasota Memorial Health Care System (SMH) in Sarasota, Florida, is a Level 2 trauma center with 839 beds and more than 900 physicians. The 430 members of the surgical staff perform more than 24,300 inpatient and outpatient surgical procedures in the 34 operating suites each year. With this level of…

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Editor's Note Machine learning can be used to improve surgical risk prediction compared to traditional risk calculators, this study from Singapore finds. The traditional Combined Assessment of Risk Encountered in Surgery and the American Society of Anesthesiologists Physical Status models were compared with machine learning models in the prediction of…

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Editor's Note The ECRI Institute on April 1 announced the 11 US healthcare organizations that received its 2019 Healthcare Supply Chain Achievement Award. The winners demonstrated excellence in overall spend management in their supply chain processes, and include: Albany Medical Center, Albany, NY Cambridge Health Alliance, Cambridge, MA Cooperative Services…

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Editor's Note The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) on April 2 issued a statement announcing steps toward a new, tailored review framework for artificial intelligence (AI)-based medical devices. AI and machine learning have the potential to transform the delivery of healthcare, with earlier disease detection, more accurate diagnoses, more targeted…

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Editor's Note The US government claimed that digitization of healthcare records would improve the quality and value of healthcare; however, 10 years after legislation fast-tracked the move to electronic healthcare records (EHRs), even the architects of the effort agree that the $36 billion investment has not delivered as expected, the…

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