Editor's Note This study was designed to understand nurses’ perceptions of using an electronic health record (EHR) at the point of care. At 1 year after EHR adoption, the nurses said: it did not improve patient care the learning curve was steep they had lower confidence using the EHR than…

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Enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) programs are gaining ground with recent data showing that they improve outcomes. The programs consist of multidisciplinary, evidence-based protocols implemented in the perioperative period to provide standardized patient care. Like other changes in healthcare delivery, adopting ERAS programs takes time and effort. Despite positive results…

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Someone who literally owes his life to healthcare workers will share his remarkable experience and inspiration during this year’s annual OR Manager Conference. Marcus Engel, author of The Other End of the Stethoscope and several other books, will be the opening keynote speaker at the conference, which takes place September…

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Editor's Note Large numbers of pediatric patients have tonsillectomies and adenoidectomies (T&As) in ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) despite higher rates of complications in younger patients and patients with more comorbidities, this study finds. In this retrospective review, researchers from Stanford University, Stanford, California, analyzed 115,214 children having T&As in hospitals,…

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Editor's Note RNs at Kaiser Permanente’s Los Angeles Medical Center began a 7-day strike on March 15, PR Newswire reports. The focus of the strike is on: improving staffing to protect patient care achieving economic gains to retain experienced RNs and increase recruitment of new RNs. The walkout affects 1,200…

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Editor's Note In this study, a new risk-stratification scale identified high-risk patients for readmission within 30 days after total hip replacement with 89.1% accuracy. Nearly 269,000 hip replacement patients from the State Inpatient Database were analyzed, and factors associated with an increased risk of readmission were used to create the…

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Editor's Note Patients who underwent desensitization therapy and received kidney transplants from HLA-incompatible live donors had a substantial survival benefit, compared with patients who did not undergo transplantation or those who waited for transplants from deceased donors, this study finds. Researchers from Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, enrolled 1,025 patients at 22…

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Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on March 11 announced the Class I recall of  Arrow International Intra-Aortic Balloon Catheter Kits and Percutaneous Insertion Kits by Teleflex Incorporated (Wayne, Pennsylvania). Class I is the FDA’s most serious recall classification. The Kits are being recalled because the sheath body…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission announced on March 9 that the Michigan Health & Hospital Association and its member hospitals have partnered with the Joint Commission Center for Transforming Healthcare on a statewide high reliability organization improvement effort. Michigan is the second state to partner with the Center; South Carolina…

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Editor's Note Key skills may be lacking among nurses who treat patients with urinary catheters, finds this study funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Of 394 nurses surveyed, 76.1% reported receiving education on catheter-associated urinary tract infection risk reduction in the last 12 months. Though 83% said they…

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