Editor's Note The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) on June 5 updated its Safety Communication: “Recommendations to Reduce Surgical Fires and Related Patient Injury.” Among the recommendations: Perform a fire risk assessment before each surgical procedure. Encourage communication among anesthesia personnel, surgeons, and OR staff. Practice safe use and administration…

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Editor's Note National efforts by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to reduce hospital-acquired conditions (HACs) helped prevent some 8,000 deaths and save $2.9 billion in costs between 2014 and 2016, according to a new report released June 5 by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). Data…

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Editor's Note On June 8, the American Hospital Association (AHA) is hosting its second annual Hospitals Against Violence National Day of Awareness, termed “#HAVhope Friday.” The day has been set aside to focus attention on how hospitals, health systems, and their caregivers work daily to end all forms of violence…

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Editor's Note ECRI Institute on June 5 announced a new consultative service focused on helping healthcare organizations prevent surgical fires by uncovering hidden vulnerabilities. There have been guidelines published by ECRI Institute and others to prevent and extinguish fires for many years, but implementation of the guidelines is the challenge,…

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Editor's Note Approximately one-third of casualties during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars resulted from nonbattle injuries (NBIs), this study finds. In this analysis of 29,958 casualties (battle injuries and NBIs), NBIs caused 34.1% of total casualties and 11.5% of all deaths. Rates of NBIs were higher among women than men…

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Editor's Note Working the night shift and sleeping during the day for just a few days can disrupt levels and time-of-day patterns of more than 100 proteins in the blood (ie, plasma proteomes), this study finds. Six healthy men volunteers in their 20s spent 6 days in the clinical translational…

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Editor's Note The ECRI Institute on May 21 announced that it had provided conclusive research to help guide the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) new “FDA Report on the Quality, Safety, and Effectiveness of Servicing of Medical Devices.” The FDA report, which addresses concerns about the quality of service provided…

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Disruption in the perioperative setting occurs across a continuum ranging from verbal outbursts to physical violence. “We live in an increasingly violent society, and we need to take measures to educate and prepare nurses and other team members to be safe,” says Margo Halm, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, associate chief executive,…

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Societal problems in recent years have placed increasing burdens on healthcare workers. With the increase in mass casualty victims, people displaced by natural disasters, and drug or alcohol addicts, it’s not uncommon to experience disruptive patients or families of patients who arrive at the facility under a great deal of…

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Editor's Note In this study, working overtime negatively influenced nurse-nurse and nurse-physician collaboration. Survey data from 24,013 nurses in 957 units from 168 hospitals in the National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators showed that one third of nurses work beyond their scheduled shifts. One hour of overtime was associated with…

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