Safety Malignant hyperthermia (MH) is a rare but potentially fatal pharmacogenetic disorder of skeletal muscle triggered by exposure to volatile anesthetics or succinylcholine. It’s a particular danger in the OR, and providers must always watch for its signs and collaborate to respond as quickly as possible to save the patient on…
Patient safety watchdog The Leapfrog Group yesterday announced an expansion of its Ambulatory Surgery Center (ASC) Public Reporting Program. It says the redesigned initiative to rate the safety of nearly 4,000 U.S. ASCs will go public in late July. Leapfrog President and CEO Leah Binder calls it a “game changer,”…
A new cluster randomized crossover trial study published on JAMA Open by Wake Forest University researchers examines whether continuous (rather than intermittent) vital sign monitoring reduces abnormalities in blood pressure, oxygenation, and heart rate during the initial 48 hours after noncardiac surgery. Using four-week ward clusters among 798 postoperative patients, “the…
A new narrative review study posted Monday on Cureus, “Patients With Obesity on the Acute Care Surgery Service: Improving Outcomes,” posits that obesity now “represents a defining characteristic of the emergency general surgery (EGS) population," and that many clinicians and health systems need to account for this reality in their care…
A recent study by researchers at Bon Secours Tuckahoe Orthopedics of Richmond, Va., examined whether the personal cloth scrub caps that some surgeons like to wear in the OR could put patients at greater risk of surgical site infections. The study, published in the journal Patient Safety in Surgery, examined the…
Everyone knows the time-honored cliché about surgeons who act out as the ego-driven superstars of the OR, and to whom everyone else on the perioperative team defers or even fears. In one periop leader’s experience, that dynamic has changed. “The physician of today is not the physician of 10 years…
Credentialing of providers is a challenge for many surgical facilities. If you’ve listened to Credentialing Chronicles, the podcast co-hosted by Shannen Aguayo, founder and CEO of Advanced Quality Compliance, and Nyleen Flores, BA, FMSP, CPMSM, CPCS, CPCO, CASC, administrator at Lake Oconee Orthopedics in Greensboro, Ga. (and member of our…
The first case of the day is a complex orthopedic procedure. Loaner trays were expected the afternoon before but arrived late in the evening. Sterile processing adjusted priorities to accommodate the load. The industry representative is already in the department at 6:00 a.m., confirming instrumentation and reviewing implant availability with…
A systematic review and meta-analysis led by Mayo Clinic researchers of sex-based differences in perioperative hypersensitivity (POH) has been published by the peer-reviewed medical journal Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. POH, the researchers state, is a rare, immediate hypersensitivity reaction that, in its more severe form as perioperative anaphylaxis, carries…
A free clinical report published in Pediatrics, the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) examines the role that pediatricians should play in evaluating and preparing patients and families for anesthesia and surgery. It focuses on two major areas of concern. The first is preparation and optimization of the…
