Editor's Note An experimental compound developed at Duke University School of Medicine provides strong pain relief without the side effects or addiction potential of opioids, according to a May 19 announcement from the university. Known as SBI-810, the drug targets a specific receptor in the nervous system and uses a…
Editor's Note The Trump administration’s proposed fiscal year 2026 budget calls for slashing the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) discretionary budget by $32 billion, a nearly 25% cut that brings the total to $95 billion. Fierce Healthcare reported the news June 2. Although many of the proposed cuts…
Editor's Note America’s Blood Centers (ABC) and the American College of Surgeons (ACS) Stop the Bleed program have launched a national collaboration to strengthen trauma response and emergency preparedness, according to a May 30 announcement. The initiative connects public education in bleeding control with efforts to maintain a stable national…
Editor's Note An AI-powered wearable camera has achieved 99.6% accuracy in detecting potentially deadly drug mix-ups, including in the OR, NBC News reported May 25. Developed by Kelly Michaelsen, MD, at UW Medicine, the smart glasses scan medication labels in real time, alerting anesthesia providers to syringe-vial mismatches before drugs…
Editor's Note Capability to achieve results on par with or better than humans using laparoscopic techniques demonstrates the extent to which autonomous surgical robots are rapidly evolving toward clinical readiness, according to John Hopkins University robotics researchers writing may 27 in IEEE Spectrum. The system detailed in the article, Johns…
Editor's Note Researchers studying the exposure of sterile surgical slush to open air urge the adoption of closed-system technology to alleviate risks to sterility and surgical outcomes, according to a May 19 article in OR today. The article focuses on a time and motion study led by perioperative nursing leaders…
Editor's Note The United States recorded more than 1.5 million excess deaths in 2022 and 2023 alone—avoidable fatalities that would not have occurred if US death rates matched those of other wealthy nations, according to a May 23 article in CIDRAP reporting on a Boston University–led study published in JAMA…
Editor's Note German health technology startup Medical Decision Alliance (MDA) has raised €3.3 million in seed funding to teach AI systems to think like top surgeons, leveraging human-like clinical intuition to guide OR teams. Tech Funding News reported the development May 22. As detailed in the article, which is focused…
Editor's Note AI systems are only as secure and reliable as the data that powers them. That’s the central message of a guidance sheet jointly issued May 22 by the NSA, CISA, FBI, and cybersecurity agencies from Australia, New Zealand, and the UK. The document outlines best practices for securing…
Editor's Note Direct-hire international recruitment can be a viable long-term strategy to stabilize staffing and improve care delivery amid a worsening shortage of registered nurses (RNs), according to a May 20 article in Daily Nurse. To make the case, the article extensively quotes Ron Hoppe, CEO of WorldWide HealthStaff Solutions…