Editor's Note A March 11 article on SeniorLiving.org broke down key considerations and risks for elderly patients undergoing surgery and anesthesia. One such consideration is studies show that older adults often prioritize quality of life over the extension of life if it means sacrificing independence or functional abilities. Other lessons…

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Editor's Note The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), of the the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), is releasing an innovative, hospital-tested guide aimed at addressing and mitigating healthcare worker burnout, a CDC March 18 press release reports. This initiative is a cornerstone of the Impact…

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Editor's Note Following up with a nursing guide in addition to the the modified early warning score (MEWS) helps reduce early postoperative complications, according to the results of a recent clinical trial. Nursing guide application in patients followed up according to MEWS also decreased ISCU admission, decreased MEWS and increased…

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The US Food and Drug Administration receives more than 100,000 medication-related reports, and some of them, according to the AORN Journal, “involve patient death.” AORN’s 2024 updated guidelines include safety updates for perioperative staff when handling, transporting, and administering medication, which can be a complex process prone to errors. In…

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Editor's Note Several million patients may be misclassified as having hypertension because they are not sitting according to recommended guidelines when measurements are taken, according to new findings in The Lancet published September 14.  The American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology advise that when health care professionals take…

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Editor's Note The American Cancer Society (ACS) has updated its lung cancer screening recommendations from 2013 in an effort to reduce deaths based on smoking history, CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians November 1 reports. According to the updated guidelines, lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in…

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Editor's Note The American College of Rheumatology and the American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons, on February 28, released a summary of their updated guideline for the “Perioperative Management of Antirheumatic Medication in Patients with Rheumatic Diseases Undergoing Elective Total Hip or Total Knee Arthroplasty.” The guideline, which is…

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Each year, there are more studies raising concerns about infections associated with endoscopic procedures and the techniques used to clean and sterilize or high-level disinfect (HLD) endoscopic devices. In this article, in partnership with Boston Scientific, epidemiologist Cori L. Ofstead, MSPH, president and CEO of Ofstead & Associates, St Paul,…

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Editor's Note This pilot project, by epidemiologist Cori L. Ofstead, MSPH, and colleagues finds that routine reprocessing activities generate substantial splashing and droplet dispersal, and that currently recommended items of personal protective equipment (PPE) do not adequately protect personnel from exposure. The researchers found that: Droplets were generated during every…

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Editor's Note In this study, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) researchers report on the comparative effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines against hospitalization of US adults without immunocompromised conditions. Included in the case-control analysis were 3,689 adults aged 18 years and older who were hospitalized at 21 US hospitals between…

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