Good employers and leaders will create and foster more engaged employees, who help make organizations more productive and successful, according to the Gallup Business Journal. Gallup examined 32 companies that employed a collective 600,000 people across seven industries, including healthcare, and found engaged employees outnumber disengaged employees nine to one at these companies. As employee […]
Read MorePatients aren’t as likely to have problems paying their medical bills if they get information such as out-of-pocket cost estimates up front, according to a recent TransUnion Healthcare survey. According to TransUnion, a medical necessity software program can provide real-time verification of patients’ insurance eligibility and benefits, allowing providers to avoid billing errors and give […]
Read MoreThe wheels of regulation grind slowly, but the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last week finally declared that the maker of the da Vinci robotic surgical system has satisfactorily addressed violations listed in an agency warning letter from July 2013. Among other things, the FDA faulted Intuitive Surgical, the manufacturer of the robotic surgical […]
Read MoreOn this Memorial Day, we pause to remember the 1.3 million American soldiers who have died in war since our founding, and the 1.5 million who have been wounded. Thank you. Thank you again, to all who have served and sacrificed, and to those who now serve and sacrifice.
Read MorePublished in Anesth Analg. 2014 May;118(5):946-55 Authors: Le Guen M et al., BACKGROUND: The α2-adrenergic agonist dexmedetomidine is a sedative and can be used as an adjunct to anesthetics. Our primary goal was thus to determine the extent to which dexmedetomidine reduces the requirement for propofol and remifentanil. METHODS: This double-blinded, randomized study […]
Read MorePublished in Allergol Int. 2014 Apr Authors: Saito M et al. Background: There are problems in diagnosis of allergy to amide-type local anesthetic agents (ALAs), because definitive diagnosis is not obtained by in vivo tests, which are used for the diagnosis. Consequently, patients may be exposed to risk. There are few diagnoses based […]
Read MoreAuthors: Abroug F and Krishnan JA., Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2014 May 1; 189:1014 Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease exacerbations who require intensive care admission do better with low-dose steroids. A 2010 observational study suggested that relatively low-dose oral corticosteroids were as good as — or better than — high-dose parenteral steroids […]
Read MoreAuthors: Donnino MW et al., Crit Care Med 2014 Apr 25; Lower lactate levels and more rapid lactate clearance were associated with improved survival and good neurologic outcomes. Although guidelines recommend serial lactate measurements to assess perfusion in critically ill patients, data to support this approach are derived mainly from burn, trauma, and septic patients […]
Read MoreAuthors: Clarke H et al., BMJ 2014 Feb 11; 348:g1251 A small but substantial percentage of opiate-naïve patients were still taking pain medications 90 days after major surgery. Annually, more than 200 million patients undergo major surgery worldwide. Many patients require treatment with opiates for moderate-to-severe postoperative pain; most quickly transition off of pain medications. […]
Read MorePublished in Arch Pediatr. 2014 Apr Authors: Walter-Nicolet E et al., Abstract Tracheal intubation in neonates is a painful procedure performed daily in the delivery room despite the widespread development of noninvasive ventilation. Specific analgesia is not commonly performed. The objective of this observational study was to compare practices between two level-III centers: […]
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