Anesthesia Editor's Note After a review of 128 case histories, Johns Hopkins researchers find that financial penalties imposed by federal and state agencies on Maryland hospitals based solely on the total number of patients who suffer venous thromboemboli (VTEs) fail to account for those that occur despite the consistent and proper…
Editor's Note Older women are more likely than older men to have mental decline after general anesthesia, and both men and women had faster declines in mental function and brain volume than those who had no general anesthesia, this study finds. Mental decline was especially severe in women who had…
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 The Food and Drug Administration on July 1 issued a Class I recall, the most serious, of FLOW-I Anesthesia Systems by Maquet. Maquet has received 10 reports of patient cassettes (ie, the center of gas flow in the system) coming loose. The cassette locking device may accidentally release…
Part 1 of this two-part series, published in the March issue of OR Manager, discussed the perioperative surgical home (PSH) concept. In this article, healthcare providers who are in the planning stages of a PSH as well as those with several years of experience with using this model of care…
The medical home, consisting of a patient-centered team focusing on the coordinated delivery of care, is now embedded in the healthcare lexicon, but the perioperative surgical home (PSH) is a more recent concept that is only starting to spread across the country. “The number of hospitals in the US with…
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services penalizes hospitals for readmissions stemming from myocardial infarction, heart failure, pneumonia, and total hip and knee arthroplasty, and in 2016, coronary artery bypass graft procedures will be added to the mix. For this and many other reasons, OR leaders everywhere are taking steps…
A high-performing anesthesiology group is critical to the success of a hospital OR. Most OR leaders, however, do not know how to work effectively with anesthesia providers to define high performance and establish performance metrics. Traditionally, anesthesia group contracts have not included detailed service standards. Language about anesthesia coverage is…
Demand for anesthesia technicians is on the rise, according to a recent Chicago Tribune headline. The article touts the position as a way to “work in the operating room without going to medical school.” Although this description may be an overreach, it does help raise awareness of the growing and…
Among the challenges facing OR leaders everywhere are declining payment in tandem with rising costs, increased quality and patient satisfaction requirements, and the ongoing struggle to manage relations with surgeons. When it comes to tackling these issues, many OR directors do not realize they have a powerful natural ally—the anesthesiology…
