A new study found patients receiving undergoing a total hip or knee replacement incurred a higher incidence of surgical site infections when they received general anesthesia for the procedure over the same procedures performed under regional anesthesia, according to a…
Patient Safety & Outcomes
A new study published in Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics indicates nitrous oxide gas provides a comparable analgesia to IV sedation for patients undergoing colonoscopy.
Hospitals are increasingly transferring patients to long term-care facilities after a critical illness, but there is little data to guide such decisions or to verify whether these facilities are effective, according to a study in the Journal of the American…
The number of cases at California hospitals in which surgical equipment was inadvertently left inside patients rose from 153 two years ago to 197 last year, a 29 percent increase, according to a report by the San Francisco Chronicle.
Researchers from The Netherlands found that asymptomatic left ventricular dysfunction was a significant predictor of 30-day cardiovascular events following surgery, indicating a need to diagnose the condition preoperatively and to better manage it around the time of surgery, according to…
Advertisement
Malignant hyperthermia crises come on suddenly, and healthcare providers have no real way to predict which patients may experience this reaction while under anesthesia unless they have found a positive patient or family history. However, with proper preparation and knowledge,…
A new clinical study published in the May issue of Acta Anaesthesiologica Scandinavica, showed that Masimo pleth variability index can help clinicians assess a patient's risk for mean arterial pressure decreases that lead to hypotension during anesthesia, allowing them to…
Thanks to a Commonwealth Fund grant, the Institute for Safe Medication Practices will resurvey hospitals on their medication safety practices later this year, according to a report by AHA News Now.
Bar-code technology that includes an electronic medication administration record (eMAR) significantly reduces potential drug-related adverse events and transcription and medication administration errors, according to a study by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality published in the New England Journal…
Mortality rates decline after computerized physician order entry is implemented, a recent study by Lucile Packard Children's Hospital found, according to a report in the Stanford Daily.