Editor's Note The Joint Commission on November 13 announced a new Speak Up campaign that focuses on the right of patients to be informed about and make decisions on their care. “Speak Up For Your Rights” offers free materials to download and give to patients and their families, including: An…

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Editor's Note The American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP) Surgical Risk Calculator accurately predicted four quality-of-life outcomes that transcend traditional measures of successful surgery and now reflects the expected effects of surgery on an older patient’s ability to function independently, finds this study presented October…

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Editor's Note Surgeons can better understand the effect of a patient's postoperative physical activity on their recovery by capturing passively-collected accelerometer data from their patients’ smartphones, finds this study presented October 28 at the American College of Surgeons Clinical Congress 2019 in San Francisco. Patients enrolled in the study downloaded…

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Editor's Note A state-mandated policy restricting opioid prescriptions in Vermont greatly reduced opioid prescribing and use by surgical patients at the University of Vermont Medical Center without affecting patient satisfaction with their postoperative pain management, finds this study presented October 29 at the American College of Surgeons Clinical Congress 2019…

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Editor's Note An acute-care surgery model that caps surgeon call shifts at 12 hours instead of 24 hours for covering surgical emergencies has led to shorter hospital stays, lower infection rates, and lower overall costs for patients with acute appendicitis, finds this study presented October 30 at the American College…

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Editor's Note In this study, machine learning algorithms accurately identified cancer patients who were at risk of 6-month mortality. Of 26,525 cancer patients analyzed, machine learning models based on structured electronic health record data accurately predicted short-term mortality risk with good discrimination and positive predictive value. When the gradient boosting…

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Editor's Note An Enhanced Recovery Pathway (ERP) created by the Mayo Clinic’s colorectal surgery service a decade ago has now been adopted by other surgical services in seven medical centers that are members of the Mayo Clinic Care Network, the October 15 Harvard Business Review reports. The ability of each…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission announced on October 23 that laminated posters and badge buddies on the 2020 National Patient Safety Goals (NPSGs) for hospitals are now available for purchase. Areas covered by the NPSGs include: Patient identification Infection prevention Patient safety risks Safe surgery. The posters and badge buddies…

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Editor's Note Ketamine use has grown as a pain management alternative to opioids, but more than one in three patients experience side effects such as hallucinations and visual disturbances, finds this study, which was presented October 21 at the Anesthesiology 2019 annual meeting in Orlando, Florida. Duke University researchers categorized…

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Editor's Note Patients having blood drawn by courteous healthcare providers were significantly more likely to say their pain was well-controlled, finds this study presented October 20 at the Anesthesiology 2019 annual meeting in Orlando, Florida. Analyzing responses from 4,740 adult patients on questions about pain control (range from 1 to…

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