5 Stories You Need: Making Concurrent Surgeries Safe, One-Third of Antibiotic Rx Unnecessary

We know you’re busy, but we don’t want you to miss important healthcare quality and patient safety news. Here’s a roundup of stories you may have missed but need to take a look at before calling it a week. (Sign up on the right if you’d like these news alerts delivered to you.)

1. ‘Alarmed’ Senate Committee Wants Action on Concurrent Surgeries
   Amidst a Senate committee’s investigation into and call for CMS to strengthen current standards for overlapping surgeries, a new Mayo Clinic study shows such procedures may be safer than one might think. HealthLeaders Media 
2. Bar Code Rx Administration Compliance Rolling Out Slowly
   Learn what barriers may be delaying widespread use of wristband bar codes in the administration of drugs to patients. HealthLeaders Media
3. Duke develops robotic nurse to reduce contact with infectious disease
   Meet “Trina,” a robotic nurse, innovated collaboratively by engineering and nursing students at Duke University, and trained to move linens, take vital signs and deliver medication.   The News & Observer
4. A Third of People Given Antibiotics Don’t Need Them
   Consider why some researchers now say overuse of antibiotics is a psychological problem as opposed to a diagnostic one. National Geographic 
5. Infection-related deaths expose deficiencies in FDA oversight of medical devices
   Patients in multiple states are wondering why neither government officials nor a manufacturer warned them about the risk of dangerous infections associated with a particular heater-cooler device used during open-heart surgeries.   MedCity News