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Although thyroidectomies now are performed using minimally invasive techniques, surgeons have been reluctant to move the procedure to an outpatient setting for a variety of reasons including risk of bleeding and the threat of low blood calcium levels.
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The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommends that facilities stop using Custom Ultrasonics endoscope washer/disinfectors if alternative automated endoscope reprocessors (AERs) are immediately available and it is feasible to make the switch. The affected products include the System 83 Plus Washer/Disinfector, the System 83 Plus MiniFlex Washer/Disinfector, and all accessories.
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When two outpatient surgery departments faced disaster in the past year, they learned just how important it is to participate in disaster drills and to come together as a team when a crisis hits.
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In President Bush' proposed budget, the inflation increase for ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) and hospital outpatient departments (HOPDs) has been decreased by 0.065 percentage points starting in 2010 for surgery centers and 2008 for HOPDs.
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A decrease in the perceived risk of wrong-site surgery and an improvement in collaboration among members of the operating room team improved significantly following the introduction of a standardized operating room briefing for all surgical procedures performed at Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions in Baltimore.
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A well-managed and carefully-monitored patient satisfaction improvement project is one reason that staff members at The Urologic Surgical Center in Lancaster, PA, received good marks and positive comments from their surveyor in January 2007.
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The unwieldy name of Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations no longer exists. As of January 2007, the accreditation association's name was changed to The Joint Commission.
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What did the doctor say? Improving health literacy to protect patient safety is a free white paper offered by The Joint Commission that explores the use of medical terms in communications with patients and the challenges that this use creates for patients.
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The investigative arm of Congress reported that The Joint Commission and its not-for-profit educational and consulting affiliate, Joint Commission Resources (JCR), have made progress in the past several years to prevent improper sharing of facility-specific information, though continued monitoring is warranted.
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