Mar 08, 2016

According to recent reports, about 2.1 million people in the United States suffer from substance use disorders relating to prescription opioids, and the number of unintentional overdose deaths from pr...

Mar 08, 2016

Published research has shown that hospital readmissions are commonly needed to treat complications after patients undergo major surgery. Few studies have explored if patients have better outcomes when...

Mar 04, 2016

Patient Age & TKA Outcomes The Particulars: Evidence suggests that increasing life expectancies and obesity rates in the United States have led to a broader age range of patients undergoing tot...

Mar 04, 2016

In the past several years, the goal for better diversification of the physician workforce in the United States has become increasingly important. Despite this need, few assessments overall have examin...

Mar 04, 2016

Treatment for congenital heart disease (CHD) has advanced considerably over the years, allowing for more children with CHD to live into adulthood. Despite these advances, CHD patients may require addi...

Mar 03, 2016

Historically, mnemonics have been used in medicine to facilitate learning and provide clinicians with tools to enhance their care of patients. These memory devices are often applied on hospital wards,...

Feb 18, 2016

As the United States population continues to live longer, the incidence of osteoporotic fragility fractures is expected to increase substantially in both men and women over the next 30 years. Osteopor...

Feb 16, 2016

A newborn in Tennessee had an operation to correct a "tongue tie." Except for the procedure being performed on the wrong baby, things went well. According to reports, a nurse came into the mother's...

Feb 02, 2016

Patients had no greater risk of death or serious morbidity when cared for by surgical residents working flexible duty hours when compared to those working standard Accreditation Council for Graduate M...

Jan 19, 2016

Studies have shown that patients who have recently received a coronary stent and later undergo non-cardiac surgery are at higher risk for adverse cardiac events. “This is partly due to a combination...

Jan 11, 2016

A recent event at the trauma center where I work raised some serious questions regarding the use of video recording for education and quality improvement. We have done this in the trauma bays for seve...

Jan 04, 2016

Last month, a three-judge panel granted English surgeon David Sellu the right to appeal his conviction. He has already served 15 months in prison. In this space 2 years ago, I blogged about Sellu, ...

Jan 01, 2016

Research has shown that older patients often share control over decision-making and personal health information with family members or friends in order to manage medical care issues. However, it can b...

Dec 15, 2015

Despite increased national attention, the incidence of Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) and its associated financial and human costs continue to grow. In fact, the problem has become so critical ...

Dec 07, 2015

It has been well-documented in clinical studies that smoking cessation after patients undergo PCI can improve outcomes. Some research has identified certain predictors of smoking cessation after PCI, ...

Dec 07, 2015

Research has shown that the 5-year survival rate among patients with cancers of the liver undergoing resection is high. Many candidates, however, will not undergo these procedures because of the high ...

Nov 20, 2015

An estimated 400,000 surgical site infections (SSIs) occur each year in the United States, leading to nearly 10,000 deaths, significant morbidity, and excess healthcare resource utilization. Preadmiss...

Nov 15, 2015

Secondary therapies play a key role in maintaining long-term graft patency, preventing adverse cardiovascular outcomes, and helping improve overall health and quality of life after CABG surgery. Recen...

Nov 15, 2015

Throughout the United States, use of aggressive treatment styles has been implicated in rising healthcare costs. Significant expenditures can accrue when caring for patients at the end of life as well...

Nov 10, 2015

Previous long-term research has found that there appears to be no difference in disease-free or overall survival between partial and total mastectomy for the treatment of invasive breast cancer. Despi...