Editor's Note Chicacgo-area hospitals are using apps to help patients prepare for and recover from surgery and communicate their symptoms, the November 30 Chicago Tribune reports. Amita Health is now using the TapCloud app with good results−of 309 orthopedic patients who have used the app, none have had to be…
Editor's Note The Joint Commission on November 30 announced that to better align with Medicare surveyor guidelines, ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) electing to use the Medicare-deemed option may receive adjustment to the length of time for the survey and number of surveyors. The Life Safety Code component of the survey…
Editor's Note Implementation of a frailty screening initiative for preoperative patients was associated with reduced mortality, this study finds. In 9,153 patients screened, postoperative mortality decreased significantly at 30, 180, and 365 days, and improvements were noted in both frail and nonfrail patients. Multivariate analysis showed a three-fold survival benefit…
Editor's Note Chlorhexidine is the best antiseptic for skin prep when a prolonged effect is needed, such as when implanting medical devices or performing surgical procedures, this study finds. Of 135 healthy volunteers tested, at 24 hours: unscrubbed control bacterial counts were 288 CFU/cm2 scrubbed control counts were 96 CFU/cm2…
Editor's Note Henry Ford Health System (Detroit, Michigan) is one of dozens of organizations that have dropped out of Medicare’s bundled payment model program in the past 3 years, the November 29 Modern Healthcare reports. In 2013, three of Henry Ford Health System hospitals participated in the first phase of…
Editor's Note Discontinuity in nursing care in hospitals was high and negatively impacted patient clinical conditions in this study. Discontinuity in care declined from nearly 100% in the first 24 hours, to 70% at 36 hours, and to 50% by the 10th day after admission. Each instance of discontinuity lead…
Editor's Note The Surgical Apgar Score (SAS) was found to be significantly predictive but weakly discriminative for major complications and death after emergency high-risk abdominal surgery in this study. The risk of major complications, death, and ICU admission increased significantly with decreasing SAS (P < .001). The score’s c-statistics were…
Editor's Note The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is accepting comments on the draft update to its recommendations for the use of chlorhexidine (CHG)-impregnated dressings to prevent intravascular catheter-related infections. The draft addresses new and updated strategies and is based on a review of the evidence since 2010…
Editor's Note Surgical residents who perceived negative effects of The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education’s duty hour policies on patient safety were more likely to violate duty hour policies, this study finds. Of 4,554 residents in 184 programs analyzed: 25.3% felt the current duty hour policies negatively affected patient…
Editor's Note In this study, a Risk Analysis Index was found to measure frailty in surgical patients with predictive ability equal to other frailty tools, with an additional advantage of rapid, real-time, preoperative assessment feasible for guiding surgical decision making. The Index measures frailty prospectively using a questionnaire or retrospectively…
