Surgery/Specialties Editor's Note In this study from the UK, researchers found a robust relationship between a surgeon’s daily OR schedule and surgical performance (indexed by duration of procedure). The researchers say surgeons should reorder their OR schedule, starting their days with the simpler cases and building up to the more difficult…
Editor's Note Children younger than 3 years of age may benefit from 23-hour observation after tonsillectomy, this study finds. In this multicenter study of 1,817 healthy children having outpatient tonsillectomy, those younger than 3 years were at an increased risk for complications within the first 24 hours, and the complications…
Editor's Note The American Association of Nurse Anesthetists (AANA) on March 19 expressed strong opposition to the decision by insurer Anthem, Inc, that ophthalmologists assume responsibility for the administration of anesthesia and patient monitoring during cataract procedures. “Ophthalmologists are no more qualified to administer anesthesia than CRNAs are to perform…
Editor's Note Enhanced patient satisfaction scores were seen in patients who received supplemental web-based education before having outpatient orthopedic surgical procedures in this study presented March 7 at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Annual Meeting. A total of 177 patients were randomized to receive either routine education from the…
Editor's Note In patients having noncardiac surgery who develop a perioperative acute myocardial infarction (AMI), about one in three died in-hospital or were readmitted within 30 days of discharge, finds this study presented March 10 at the 2018 American College of Cardiology Annual Scientific Session. Among more than 3 million…
Editor's Note Reductions in hospital length of stay (LOS) for surgical procedures between 2008 and 2014, were not linked to a greater use of postacute care facilities in this study. Researchers studied the relationship between decreased LOS and postacute care using summary measures from the US National Inpatient Sample with…
Editor's Note Great strides in burn care over the past 30 years have dramatically increased burn patients’ chances of survival by 2% per year, this study finds. Between 1989 and 2017, there were 10,384 burn admissions with 355 mortalities. Researchers looked at the main factors that influenced risk of death…
Editor's Note The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) on March 12 issued a Safety Alert on the potential for increased artifact associated with magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) imaging for follow-up of certain post neurovascular embolization coil procedures. When MRA is performed on patients implanted with neurovascular embolization coils containing 304V…
Editor's Note Patients who have a transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) experience a significant increase in quality of life, finds this study presented March 11 at the 2018 American College of Cardiology Scientific Session in Orlando. Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute (Salt Lake City) researchers found that TAVR patients ranked…
Editor's Note Surgical readmission rates have declined in the past decade, and rates of decline increased during the Hospital Readmission Reduction Program (HRRP) period, this study finds. Between 2005 and 2014, rates of readmission across 8 targeted procedures declined from 12.2% to 8.6%. Before the Affordable Care Act, rates of readmission…
