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...

Nov 05, 2015

Postoperative delirium is the most common neurologic surgical complication among older patients, with incidence rates ranging from 15% to 50% in published studies. Yet, evidence suggests it is prevent...

Nov 05, 2015

Parkinson disease (PD) is a chronic progressive condition that most commonly affects the elderly. Currently, about 1 million Americans have PD, but studies suggest that the prevalence of the disease w...

Nov 03, 2015

Throughout the United States, there have been dynamic changes in healthcare technology, healthcare delivery, and health behaviors in recent years. There has been a push to improve healthcare quality o...