Editor's Note The Joint Commission is offering a new integrated care certification option that is focused on helping health care organizations improve coordination across the continuum of care. The new certification assesses how well a health care organization integrates information sharing, transitions of care, hand-off communications, and other key activities…
Editor's Note US News & World Report has posted its honor roll of the 15 best hospitals for 2015 to 2016. Honor roll hospitals scored near the top in at lease six specialties. Boston’s Massachusetts General Hospital returned to the top spot this year after being second last year. The…
Editor's Note The use of hybrid coronary revascularization is safe and effective, with faster recovery and similar outcomes compared to conventional coronary artery bypass grafting, this study finds. The 30-day composite of mortality, myocardial infarction, or stroke was similar for both procedures, as was mortality during a 3-year follow-up period.…
Editor's Note Baxter International Inc has announced a recall of two lots of 0.9% sodium chloride injection, USP, 50 mL and 100 mL, because of the presence of particulate matter. The lot numbers are P319921 and P327635. The particulate matter was determined to be an insect and was identified as…
Editor's Note In this study, patients having hip fracture surgery under regional anesthesia had significantly more complications than patients who received general anesthesia. Spinal anesthesia had the highest complication rate (19.6%), followed by general anesthesia (17.9%), and regional nerve blocks (12.6%). After combining regional nerve block and spinal anesthesia patients,…
Editor's Note Patient handoffs in ambulatory surgery centers are commonly interrupted by distractions that put patients at risk, and nearly 50% might be preventable, this study finds. Handoffs with communication distractions were rated lower in overall quality and associated with a greater number of errors (ie, transfer of incorrect information).…
Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration on June 15 issued a Class I recall, the most serious, of certain Covidien Shiley neonatal and pediatric tracheostomy tubes by Medtronic. The recalled tubes were formed with a wider-angle bend than standard models. The company has received reports that patients switching tubes…
Editor's Note In a response to the July 13 Washington Post article questioning whether cell phones belong in the OR, the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists (AANA) applauded the Post for covering the pros and cons of the issue. AANA president, Sharon Pearce, CRNA, MSN, notes that the AANA supports…
Editor's Note Urological procedures performed in children at non-high volume hospitals were associated with a higher overall rate of National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP) identified postoperative complications, compared with high volume hospitals (11.6% vs 9.3%), in this study. After adjusting for confounding factors, patients at non-high volume hospitals were…
Editor's Note The Ambulatory Surgery Center Association on July 7 posted a quality reporting alert that provides instructions on required reporting that all Medicare-certified ASCs must submit to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services ASC Quality Reporting Program by August 15. ASCs must report on five measures (ASC-6 through…
