Articles
Hybrid OR Design Helps In Some CAD Procedures
April 26, 2013 9:42 am | CommentsA one-stop "hybrid" operating room that allows surgeons and cardiologists to repair blocked arteries in the same setting improves outcomes in certain patients, a large, single-center study found. There were significantly lower adverse events in patients treated in the hybrid suite compared with those who received isolated percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) at 3 years (6.4% versus 22.7%, P<0.001).
A Record Of Progress On Health Information Technology
April 24, 2013 8:32 am | by CMS.gov | CommentsThe Affordable Care Act includes numerous reforms to improve the quality of healthcare and lowers costs for taxpayers and patients. Health IT is critical to implementing and making these new payment and delivery models work. It provides the kind of smart data and analytics that is already helping programs such as Accountable Care Organizations, bundled payments, patient-centered medical homes, and value-based purchasing.
New Website Will Disclose Health Industry Payments To Doctors
April 23, 2013 9:30 am | by Ankita Rao | CommentsTo comply with a provision in the Affordable Care Act, drug and device manufacturers, along with group purchasing organizations, will have to disclose all of their payments and other compensation to physicians and teaching hospitals. Those who don’t comply could be fined.
Hospitals Quick To Implement Lessons From Boston
April 22, 2013 11:37 am | by Michelle Castillo | CommentsEmergency management is a focus at every hospital. Throughout the year, drills are done in conjunction with various agencies and organizations. However, nothing provides the same lessons that real-life experience can give. The bombings in Boston have certainly provided a number of valuable lessons for facilities.
Study: Patient Satisfaction Not Necessarily An Indicator Of Surgical Quality
April 19, 2013 8:32 am | by Jordan Rau | CommentsThe researchers found little relationship between a hospital’s patient satisfaction scores and most quality ratings. “At present, little evidence supports its ability to predict the quality of surgical care,” Heather Lyu, Dr. Martin Makary and the other researchers wrote.
Better Surgical Outcomes Costly For Hospitals
April 17, 2013 9:26 am | by John Gever | CommentsData from an unidentified 12-hospital system in 2010 indicated that the occurrence of surgical complications boosted the "contribution margin" -- the difference between gross revenues and variable costs associated with patient care -- relative to cases without complications, when they involved the 85% of patients who had Medicare or private insurance.
Scientists Bioengineer Kidneys That Work In Rats
April 16, 2013 9:05 am | by Michael Castillo | CommentsRats have received working kidneys that were grown in a laboratory, possibly opening the door for scientists to be able to grow genetically-customized organs for human patients. This study reports important milestones toward engineering replacement kidney grafts [and] shows the potential for this strategy.
Heart-Stopping Surgery Cures Woman Of Rare Lung Disease
April 15, 2013 9:59 am | by Susan Donaldson James | CommentsSurgeons performed an intense operation on Kathleen Anderson, cooling down her body as they stopped her heart, so no brain damage occurs, then delicately stripping the blockages in her pulmonary arteries that were robbing her body of oxygen.
Bariatric Surgery Changes Metabolism And Genes
April 12, 2013 9:54 am | by John Gever | CommentsWeight loss following gastric bypass surgery was associated with changes in gene methylation that may affect insulin sensitivity, researchers said. Dynamic changes in DNA methylation may be an early event that orchestrates metabolic gene transcription involved in the regulation of insulin sensitivity in human obesity.
Medicare Effort To Cut Readmissions Isn’t Counting Patients Correctly
April 10, 2013 8:28 am | by Jordan Rau | CommentsThe study in Annals of Emergency Medicine looked at 11,976 patients discharged from Boston Medical Center, the largest safety net hospital in New England, in the first half of 2010. The total number of impatient discharges during the period studied was 15,519, including patients who were readmitted more than once.
Report: Doctors Tuning Out Beeping Alarms At Hospitals
April 9, 2013 9:23 am | CommentsConstantly beeping alarms from devices that monitor the vital signs of the critically ill have "desensitized" hospital workers who sometimes ignore the noise, leading to at least two dozen deaths a year on average, a hospital accrediting group said Monday.
How Dummies And Drills Aid Medical Training
April 8, 2013 9:54 am | by David Pogue | CommentsEvery med school hires standardized patients. But these days, simulated patients have gone high tech -- with mannequins that can simulate heart attacks, make urine, breathe, blink their eyes, even go into coma. Are they robots? Well... sort of.
Knowing 'System' Paves Way For Transplant
April 5, 2013 10:02 am | by Ed Susman | CommentsPatients in desperate need of a kidney transplant are more likely to get on the organ transplant list if they are better versed in the intricacies of the healthcare system and their disease, researchers suggested.
The Ever-Evolving, Integrated OR
April 3, 2013 4:30 pm | CommentsMany of the technologies that are now or will be in hybrid or integrated operating rooms make it a new environment for many surgeons.
Optimize Your Reprocessing Program For Better Results
April 3, 2013 3:58 pm | by Brian White, President, Stryker Sustainability Solutions | CommentsReprocessing has transitioned from an emerging trend to a widely regarded, increasingly standard practice across the country.
