Editor's Note The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) designated Getinge’s recall of Vaporizer Sevoflurane Maquet Filling and Sevoflurane Quick-Fil and Philips’ recall of Tack Endovascular Systems as Class 1s, the most severe category indicating serious risk of injury or death. The Getinge recall is an expansion of a 2024…

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Editor’s Note Preoperative use of sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors (SGLT2i) does not increase the risk of postoperative diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) in patients undergoing emergency surgery, according to a study published February 19 in JAMA Surgery. These findings challenge the current FDA recommendation to withhold SGLT2i medications for at least three…

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Editor's Note As executive director of the Association for Health Care Resource & Materials Management (AHRMM), Michael Schiller, CMRP, gets regular insight into strategies employed by healthcare organizations, suppliers, technology leaders and frontline staff—insight he was happy to share with OR business Management Conference attendees in a February 11 presentation.…

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Editor's Note Treating unintended anesthesia errors as criminal acts could exacerbate workforce shortages, increase malpractice costs, and drive clinicians to defensive medicine, according to experts quoted in a January 15 report from Anesthesiology News. Instead, fostering a culture of safety and learning could more effectively reduce errors and improve patient…

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Editor's Note The first study to directly compare kidney-related adverse outcomes between perioperative use of gabapentin and pregabalin shows that the former drug carries a higher risk, Renal and Urology News reported January 21. Published in Frontiers in Medicine, the study involved a trial emulation of 1,280 propensity-matched surgical patients…

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Editor's Note Ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) are increasingly adopting a new wrong-site surgery prevention toolkit, introduced by the ASC Quality Collaboration (ASCQC) in late 2024, ASC Focus January 17 reports. Designed to improve patient safety, this complimentary resource is packed with materials tailored to address the unique challenges of preventing…

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Editor's Note The first large-scale, randomized pediatric trial of its kind reveals the potential of treating acute, non-perforated appendicitis in children with antibiotics instead of surgery, Medical Xpress reported January 20. Published in The Lancet, the APPY study involved collaboration among 11 children’s hospitals worldwide to compare the effectiveness of…

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Editor's Note Known for managing Type 2 diabetes and promoting weight loss, GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy may also reduce the risks of numerous other conditions, including Alzheimer’s, substance use disorders, and certain cancers, according to an article published in Fortune January 20. Led by the Veterans Affairs St.…

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Editor's Note A study presented at the ASH Annual Meeting 2024 found that the current Caprini score, a widely used model for assessing perioperative venous thromboembolism (VTE) risk, underestimates risk in Black patients while overestimating it in Latino patients. Hematology Advisor reported the news January 6. According to the article,…

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What happens when a surgeon uses the monopolar instrument set on 30-W coagulation mode to create an upper midline incision in a patient with a pacemaker? Pacemaker function is interrupted, causing a heart block that results in hemodynamic instability—or at least, this is what could happen without taking the necessary…

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