Operating Room

An experimental therapy developed by researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University cut in half the time it takes to heal wounds compared to no treatment at all. Details of the therapy, which was successfully tested in mice, were published online in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology.

Patient Safety Awareness Week, being celebrated March 8-14, 2015, is an excellent time to review current practice and identify weaknesses that need to be addressed. Nowhere is this more important than in the operating room (OR), where perioperative professionals and infection preventionists can collaborate to determine knowledge gaps and ways to mitigate and eliminate risk of infection and adverse events.

Wrapping wound dressings around fingers and toes can be tricky, but for burn victims, guarding them against infection is critical. Today, scientists are reporting the development of novel, ultrathin coatings called nanosheets that can cling to the body's most difficult-to-protect contours and keep bacteria at bay. The researchers are speaking about their materials, which they've tested on mice, at the 248th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS), the world's largest scientific society.