(January 21, 2008 - Insidermedicine) From New York - Certain lesion characteristics like color asymmetry and irregular borders can signify the presence of a skin melanoma. In a study of 12 patients with multpile skin lesions, most doctors, nurses and non-clinical staff could correctly identify melanoma as a worrisome lesion. In addition, lesions that were benign were incorrectly identified only 2% of the time.

From Toronto - A pre-surgery huddle can significantly lower the chance of a communication error during surgery. A study evaluated the effect of a short pre-surgery meeting between surgeons, anesthesiologists and nurses in relation to communcation errors and showed that the brief huddle lowered the average number of errors by nearly two thirds.

And finally, from St. Louis - Infections following breast surgery occur more frequently than expected, adding significant cost to the medical system. Researchers evaluated nearly 1,000 breast surgeries and found that over 5% resulted in an infection. The average cost of dealing with the infection was over $4,000. Optimizing pre-operative antibiotics, glucose control in diabetics, and promoting impeccable aseptic techniques during post-operative procedures are all important ways to counteract this problem.

For Insidermedicine in 60, I'm Dr. Susan Sharma.