» The damaging effects to human tissue caused by radiation exposure have been documented since the first reports regarding use of radiographs in the late nineteenth century.» Orthopaedic surgeons and residents often are undereducated about the risks associated with radiation exposure and the recommended safety precautions to help mitigate these potential risks.» Orthopaedic surgeons need to adopt the ALARA (as low as reasonably achievable) principle: whenever possible, all available precautions should be taken to keep all members of the operating room safe from radiation exposure while emphasizing the best appropriate care for patients.» An emphasis on radiation safety and protection should be universally incorporated into graduate medical education.

IMPORTANCE To help prevent surgical site infections (SSIs), recommendations by a national organization led to implementation of a mandatory operating room policy in a large multicenter health care organization of required use of disposable perioperative jackets.OBJECTIVE To assess whether the use of perioperative disposable jackets is associated with the incidence of SSIs. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS Surgical site infection data for patients undergoing clean surgical procedures were retrospectively reviewed from 12 hospitals in a large multicenter health care organization during a 55-month period from January 1, 2014, to July 31, 2018. The incidence of SSI was analyzed for all National Healthcare Safety Network monitored and reported procedures. The patient population was split into 2 groups; the preintervention group consisted of 29 098 patients within the 26 months before the policy starting March 1, 2016, and the postintervention group consisted of 30 911 patients within 26 months after the policy. MAIN OUTCOME AND MEASURESComparison of the incidence of SSIs before and after intervention periods underwent statistical analysis. The total number of disposable jackets purchased and total expenditures were also calculated.EXPOSURES Implementation of the mandated perioperative attire policy.RESULTS A total of 60 009 patients (mean [SD] age, 62.8 [13.9] years; 32 139 [53.6%] male) were included in the study. The overall SSI incidence for clean wounds was 0.87% before policy implementation and 0.83% after policy implementation, which was not found to be significant (odds ratio [OR], 0.96; 95% CI, 0.80-1.14; P = .61). After accounting for possible confounding variables, a multivariable analysis demonstrated no significant reduction in SSIs (OR, 0.85; 95% CI, 0.71-1.01; P = .07). During the postintervention study period (26 months), a total of 2 010 040 jackets were purchased, which amounted to a cost of $1 709 898.46. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCEThe results of this study suggest that the use of perioperative disposable jackets is not associated with reductions in SSI for clean wounds in a large multicenter health care organization and presents a fiscal burden.

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» Following lower-extremity orthopaedic surgery, recommendations for safe return to driving include at least 6 to 12 weeks for a right ankle fracture, 2 days to 2 weeks for a right ankle arthroscopy, 6 to 9 weeks for a total ankle arthroplasty, 6 to 7 weeks for a right Achilles tendon rupture repair, 1 to 4 weeks for a right total knee arthroplasty, 2 weeks for a left total knee arthroplasty, 3 to 6 weeks for a right anterior cruciate ligament repair, and 1 to 4 weeks for a total hip arthroplasty.» Important individual factors such as extent of injury, laterality of injury, current driving habits, type of vehicle transmission (manual or automatic), and medical comorbidities must be taken into consideration.» State laws vary widely and often use vague language to describe the legal responsibilities that orthopaedic surgeons have when providing return-to-driving recommendations.

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The purpose of this study is to evaluate the rates of regular season soft tissue injuries in National Football League (NFL) players during the 2020 season, which had a canceled preseason due to the COVID-19 pandemic. MethodsThis study retrospectively reviewed the injury rates of the 2020-2021 NFL regular season in comparison to the 2018-2019 NFL regular season using publicly available injury data. The focus of our analysis was comparing the following soft tissue injuries: hamstring, groin, calf, quadriceps, thigh, knee -anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), pectoral, and Achilles. The week of injury occurrence, duration of injury in weeks, position of the injured player, and age of the NFL player at injury were obtained. Injury rates were calculated per 1000 athletic exposures with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). A chi-square test and Student's t-test were utilized as appropriate. ResultsThere were 1370 total injuries in the 2018-2019 regular NFL season and 2086 total injuries reported in the 2020-2021 regular NFL season. The total number of injuries per 1000 athletic exposures was significantly higher in the 2020-2021 NFL season compared to the 2018-2019 NFL season (88.57 versus 58.17, p < 0.001). The rates of injuries per 1000 athletic exposures for hamstring (9.98 versus 5.31, p = 0.043), groin (5.56 versus 2.46, p = 0.007), calf (4.08 versus 1.61, p = 0.006), quadriceps (2.00 versus 0.72, p = 0.030), and thigh (1.23 versus 0.30, p = 0.012) injuries were significantly higher in the 2020-2021 regular NFL season compared to the 2018-2019 NFL regular season. ConclusionsThe 2020-2021 NFL season had a significantly higher incidence of soft tissue injuries compared to the 2018-2019 regular NFL season, which may have been associated with the absent preseason due to the COVID-19 pandemic and an abrupt increase in the athletic workload of players.

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