Identifying quality improvement opportunities in a universal newborn hearing screening program.

Background And Objectives: Hospital-based universal newborn hearing screening (UNHS) programs are encouraged to maintain quality assurance protocols, but many hospitals lack the time and resources to initiate this process. We studied a practical approach to measuring baseline quality indicators and identifying improvement opportunities in UNHS programs.

Methods: We determined screening processes and quality indicators for UNHS programs at 4 hospitals through site visits and a 2-year retrospective review of nursery and audiology records.

Endoscopic endonasal hemisphenoidotomy for resection of pituitary lesions confined to the sella: report of 3 cases and technical note.

The authors report use of a minimally invasive endoscopic procedure, unilateral endonasal hemisphenoidotomy, for removal of lesions contained in the sella. The entire procedure was performed through a single nostril with the use of an endoscope. A unilateral endonasal hemisphenoidotomy (1.

Endoscopic resection of pituitary lesions through the nostril.

The endoscope has been used in paranasal sinus surgery for many years. More recently, cooperation between neurosurgeons and ear, nose, and throat (ENT) surgeons has resulted in an extension of use of the endoscope to resection of lesions in the sella turcica region. The procedure described herein involves insertion of the endoscope and surgical instruments through one nostril to provide improved visualization of the pituitary gland and an economy of perioperative trauma.