Every week, the emergency department at Loma Linda (Calif.) University Medical Center sees a patient who experienced a serious complication from cosmetic surgery that was performed by a physician with no background in the specialty, according to a March 31 Los Angeles Times report. It is one example of the consequences of physicians with no surgical training flocking to the cosmetics world and patients' potential lack of awareness on the matter.

CMS has approved HCA Mission Hospital's plan of correction to address a violation of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act regulators uncovered at the Asheville, N.C., hospital during a visit last November. 

HHS and CMS released updated  guidance on informed patient consent at teaching hospitals and medical schools regarding sensitive examinations. 

For each of the 29 recommended practices to reduce diagnostic errors, Leapfrog found at least 60% of leading hospitals are working on enforcing the practice. But full compliance is low. 

Surgeons at Chicago-based Northwestern Medicine successfully completed the nation's first double-lung and liver transplant, the health system said March 28.  

A new method to resuscitate cardiac arrest patients often proves more effective than CPR, but various implementation hurdles have prevented many hospitals from using it, according to a March 27 article in The New York Times Magazine.

 In January, Monmouth Medical Center in Long Branch, N.J., began seeing pediatric patients through a new program to address childhood obesity. 

Patients who are "double-jointed" may be at higher risk for developing long COVID, according to a study published March 19 in BMJ Public Health.

Five student groups were awarded prizes for innovations they developed to address safety issues in healthcare as part of the 2024 Health Hackathon hosted by New York City-based Weill Cornell Medicine. 

Long hospital stays and severe infections in children are linked to a handful of factors, including hospitalization during the rainy season and malnutrition, according to research published March 20 in BMC Infectious Diseases. 

Surgeons at Massachusetts General Hospital successfully completed the world's first transplant of a genetically-edited pig kidney, the Boston-based system said March 21.

On March 20, Elon Musk's Neuralink introduced 29-year-old Noland Arbaugh as the first patient to have received its brain-computer implant. 

The Joint Commission has revised several elements of performance for hospitals, including one that covers how organizations handle medical waste. 

The Joint Commission released a simplified breakdown of eight patient safety goals for hospitals in 2024.

Two new federal studies found no significant evidence of brain injury among more than 80 patients with ''Havana syndrome," The Washington Post reported March 18. 

Some physicians are expressing concern that regulation around remote monitoring has not caught up with the boom of use in the last two years, KFF Health News reported March 18.

Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare has taken numerous steps to embed safety work into daily operations across its 186 hospitals, Karla Miller, PharmD, the system's chief patient safety officer, wrote in a March 15 blog post.

In November, CMS placed a Penn Medicine hospital in immediate jeopardy for five hours after a possible preventable death. The corrections were published in late February. 

The risk of preterm birth was 37% higher for mothers involved in a phase 3 respiratory syncytial virus maternal vaccine trial than the control group in a clinical trial led by pharmaceutical giant GSK and researchers from Durham, N.C.-based Duke University School of Medicine.

Highlands County Sheriff's Office deputies responded to an active shooter situation at around 11:26 a.m. on March 14 after a 66-year-old man fatally shot his son and himself after bringing the son to AdventHealth Sebring (Fla.) hospital, local authorities say.