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Surgery fires are rare but serious enough that the American Society of Anesthesiologists plans this fall to issue its first guidelines aimed at preventing them. Health officials are not required to report surgery fires, but the medical group says they have increased over the last two decades with the use of lasers and tools that use electric current.
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The Institute for Safe Medication Practices last week encouraged certain safety precautions when prescribing fentanyl patches to treat acute pain. ISMP said the patches should only be used by opiate-tolerant patients with chronic pain that is not well-controlled with shorter-acting analgesics, and that specific prescribing and dispensing guidelines based on product labeling should be developed and referenced during order entry in inpatient and outpatient settings.
ISMP said the patch should always be prescribed at the lowest dose needed and take into account any other opiates prescribed to the patient, and that patients and their caregivers should be educated about how to use the patch safely.
[ via AHA News Now ]
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on June 26 issued updated guidelines for preventing the spread of infection in health care settings. The document updates and expands guidelines issued for hospitals in 1996 to include new issues such as SARS and avian flu and health care settings other than hospitals.
Part I reviews the scientific literature that supports the recommended prevention and control practices. Part II updates information on the basic principles of hand hygiene, barrier precautions, safe work practices and isolation practices, with new emphasis on administrative involvement in developing and supporting infection control programs. It also addresses surveillance of healthcare-associated infections. Part III provides guidance for applying precautions developed by CDC and the Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee in various health care settings.
[ via AHA News Now ]
