The following are 10 articles on surgical quality written during January 2014:
1. 6 Statistics on SSI Readmissions Following Hip, Knee Replacement. Surgical site infection is a common complication following total hip and total knee arthroplasties, leading to readmissions and extra costs. Researchers explored rates and costs of SSI readmission among approximately 76,000 patients who had one of the procedures in 2007.
2. Perioperative Nurse Education and the Future of Value-Based Care. The Institute of Medicine's 2011 most recent report, "The Future of Nursing," doesn't mince words. "The ways in which nurses were educated during the 20th century are no longer adequate for dealing with the realities of healthcare in the 21st century," it reads.
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3. Study: For Vascular Care, Higher Spending Does Not Make Better Quality. Areas with higher spending on vascular care for do not see significantly higher amputation rates in patients with severe peripheral arterial disease, suggesting increased spending does not lead to higher quality, according to an article in JAMA Surgery.
4. "Failure to Rescue" Worst at High Burden Safety-Net Hospitals, Study Finds. Failure to rescue, the mortality rate among surgical patients who experience complications, is most problematic at hospitals with high proportions of patients either uninsured or on Medicaid, according to an article appearing in JAMA Surgery.
5. Experienced Surgeons, Computers Equally Good at Predicting Risk. When it comes to predicting surgical risk, experienced surgeons and computer statistical models are on equal footing, according to an article in Journal of the American College of Surgeons.
6. Study: Surgical Failure More Likely for Emergency, Post-ICU Patients. Patients recently discharged from intensive care and patients admitted for emergency surgery are among those most at risk for a failure event, according to a study in Journal of the American College of Surgeons.
7. Surgical Complications Increase Cancer Care Costs 20-50%. For cancer patients, a surgical complication can mean an increase in treatment costs between 20 and 50 percent of that of the original surgery, according to research published in the journal Cancer.
8. New Physicians Don't Worsen Heart Procedure Outcomes. In a study looking at more than 300,000 coronary angioplasty surgeries at interventional cardiology training programs, researchers found complications related to surgery were similar throughout the year, according to a study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
9. Surgeon-Led Review Improves Mortality Ratios. A surgeon-led systematic review of mortality may help improve observed to expected mortality ratios and postsurgical mortality rankings, according to a study published in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons.
10. 1 Year After Surgery, Former Smokers are Costlier. When compared to nonsmokers, current and former smokers incur higher postoperative costs for up to one year after surgery, according to research published in JAMA Surgery.
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