News

After a surgeon stitches up a patient's abdomen, costly complications -- some life-threatening -- can occur. To cut down on these postoperative problems, Johns Hopkins undergraduates have invented a disposable suturing tool to guide the placement of stitches and guard against the accidental puncture of internal organs.

New research may help explain why hundreds of thousands of Americans a year get sick and tens of thousands die after bacteria get into their blood. It also suggests why some of those bloodstream infections resist treatment with even the most powerful antibiotics.

A science team from Arizona State University, in collaboration with federal partners, has completed the first statewide analysis of freshwater bodies in Minnesota, finding widespread evidence of the presence of active ingredients of personal-care products in Minnesota lakes, streams and rivers.

There is no question that the work done by central service (CS) departments in healthcare organizations across the country has a direct impact on the health and safety of patients. The technicians in CS departments are charged with properly sterilizing instruments used in patient carefrom the operating room suites to clinical areasand getting the right instruments to the physicians when they need them. Important work, no doubt, but another question remains. Can the satisfaction these internal customersthe doctors, nurses and others working in the hospital and clinichave with CS make an impact on our external customersthe patients we serve? At Gundersen Lutheran Health System, we believe the answer is yes, and have set a goal to provide the best possible customer service not only for our patients, but for one another.

A new 3-D view of the bodys response to infection and the ability to identify proteins involved in the response could point to novel biomarkers and therapeutic agents for infectious diseases.