In 1999, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published guidelines on surgical site infection prevention. The update to that guideline began over five years ago, but Ebola, Zika and other national and international healthcare emergencies delayed its completion. The news blog checked in with Penn Medicine's Craig Umscheid to see what the major takeaways are from this guideline and how it can improve the safety of surgical procedures.

Anyone who’s ever been a patient in a hospital is most likely familiar with nonslip socks. Some patients take the socks home with them — but, most often, the socks are left behind and then thrown out after just a single wear. A new initiative at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania is slowly changing that scenario, repurposing the socks for the homeless.

August 22 marks Raymond Perelman’s 100th birthday. Whether you’re a long-time alumnus, a recent graduate, or Philadelphia resident, you’re no doubt familiar with the exceptional generosity of Ray and his late wife, Ruth. Their historic gift of $225 million named the Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine and has helped boost student financial aid, recruit the best physicians and scientists, and accelerate innovative research.

The Perelman School of Medicine’s White Coat ceremony has become an annual rite of passage for new medical students. One by one, students are garbed in short white clinician’s coats, given a stethoscope, and as they walk across the stage they symbolically take their first steps on a long journey to becoming a doctor.

In a recent study of 208 patients, nearly half did not know their stage of cancer. One in four patients were unsure whether they were free of cancer or in remission. The review established a baseline of patient comprehension, and identifies several groups more likely to need extra conversation or support at initial diagnosis, throughout survivorship, and in incurable disease.

The Human Connectome Project (HCP) is one of many ways researchers are working together to discover and share knowledge about the human brain.

Even professionals need coaching. It’s why the best major league pitchers still need a coach to visit the mound from time to time. Sometimes another experienced set of eyes can spot something even the pros missed, hopefully heading off problems before they become bad habits. In medicine, it works much the same way.

Julie Park graduated this year from Rowan University, but she almost didn’t make it to graduation. Last January, she sprained her ankle. A week later, she flew from her South Jersey home to Thailand for vacation. Although her ankle hurt during the trip, she didn’t think it merited going to a hospital while out of the country. What she didn’t realize at the time was that such indecision could have cost her life.

Between “killing” entire industries (chain restaurants, breakfast cereal, napkins, etc.), documenting the aforementioned murders via Snapchat, and finding new ways to combine healthcare and the arts, us Millennials are rather busy—but we leave plenty of time in our full schedules to worry. So I took to Twitter to ask my peers about the health concerns that keep them up at night.

Mobile technology provides researchers with new cost-effective ways to gain a much more nuanced understanding of risky behaviors. However, the “big data” collected from these technologies in real time also opens up a plethora of ethical questions and challenges that plague health care professionals and medical ethicists alike.