Editor's Note A new study showing women treated by female doctors are less likely to die or be readmitted to the hospital adds to the growing body of evidence that women and minorities tend to receive worse medical care than men and white patients, NBC News reported April 22. Published…
Editor's Note Reports of spontaneous backup battery failure in Dreager Inc.’s Perseus A500 anesthesia workstation and multiple failures in InfuTronix, LLC’s Nimbus infusion pump systems prompted the FDA to classify manufacturer recalls as class 1, the most serious categorization indicating risk of serious harm or death. According to an April…
Editor's Note A January complaint about inefficient packaging for joint replacement products has prompted the manufacturer to recall certain knee and shoulder system devices after initially declining to take the products off the market, according to an April 23 report in Health Exec. The manufacturer, Exactech, is now recalling a…
Editor's Note The US Food and Drug Administration has designated DeRoyal Industries’ recall of GeoMed custom tracecarts a class 1, the most serious type of recall indicating a risk of serious injury or death. According to the April 24 FDA notice, the recall is due to sterility concerns with the…
Editor's Note Personal information about a “substantial portion of people in America” could be at risk from the February 21 cyberattack on UnitedHealth’s Change Healthcare division, The Associated Press reported April 23. Although the company reports no signs of full medical histories or charts were released, notifying all who were…
Editor's Note Released April 9 by the Association for Supply Chain Management (ASCM) and KPMG LLP, the KPMG Supply Chain Stability Index reveals an overall improvement in supply chain stability throughout 2023. However, points of weakness persist. According to the index, factors preventing a complete return to pre-pandemic normalcy include the…
From integrating new technology to navigating shifts in care delivery and mitigating burnout, the most pressing challenges for healthcare organizations tend to be multifaceted problems that demand multifaceted solutions. For evidence of that, look no further than the Top 10 Patient Safety Concerns 2024 list from ECRI. For every risk…
Left sniffling and sneezing after a whirlwind 4 days at my first AORN Global Surgical Conference and Expo in Nashville, Tennessee, I had more on my mind than whether the term “conference-acquired infection (CAI)” was officially part of the medical nomenclature, much less whether any studies had been done. I…
Approximately one in 31 hospital patients has at least one infection on any given day, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In surgical settings, the risk is even higher, with up to 7% of patients developing an infection during surgery. These infections can lead to a…
Anyone doubting the prevalence of workplace violence (WPV) in the healthcare setting need only search online for “injuries to healthcare workers.” In a sector rife with occupational hazards—from slips and falls to sharps injuries and infections—a significant portion of the links are sure to mention WPV, with many even focusing…