If you use IV start kits, you might be wasting money with every catheter you place. Our IV start kits contained a number of items we never used, including povidone-iodine...

Our OR nurses suggested that when we were doing the count, that would be a perfect time to have a conversation about specimens before they go out to pathology....

Dedicated regional block nurses are invaluable when it comes to preparing patients for blocks, administering catheters and staying on schedule. But leadership doesn't always...

At the end of pre-op clinic appointments, I hand patients a business card that includes my personal email address and request that a family member send me a message...

When I noticed patients who visited our hospital's emergency department carried their personal belongings home in single-use plastic bags, I knew there had to be...

Our hand hygiene compliance had gone to the dogs when the idea struck me to unleash my sweet English Bulldog, Lilly, on the problem. I took down our standard please...

It takes about 24 hours for enough epithelial cells to proliferate across surgical wounds to protect the area from infection. You can tell patients to keep wounds...

A few months ago, my staff came to me with a rather odd request. They wanted to convert an empty room off of the surgery area into a relaxation room, a mini-retreat...

I am the founder of Littlethanks (littlethanks.ca), a line of scrub-sized thank-you cards for nurses to let their fellow nurses know how much they appreciate and respect...

Earlier this year, we performed a trigger finger and carpal tunnel surgery live on our Facebook page. The idea stemmed from a simple goal: We wanted to give our...

To remind the surgical team of the correct surgical site, we printed out stacks of "left" and "right" signs and laminated each one. In pre-op, we clip a sign to the patient's...

Whether you’re looking to relieve the pre-procedure anxiety of your patients or to help your staff through trying or stressful times, consider adding a furry...

When patients show up for surgery, our front desk receptionist hands them a numbered tag and writes the number on the envelope in which we keep their...

We believe it’s a good idea for our community that we help patients with no insurance who are unable to have surgery. Some time ago, one of our surgeons was looking...

If given a choice, patients would much prefer to get their post-op care instructions by watching a 1-minute video on a tablet in PACU rather than reading a packet...

Monitoring hand hygiene compliance need not be a bore of a chore. No, you can make it fun. I gave our managers “Presidio Police” badges and water guns filled with...

At our facility, we have 31 pre-op and PACU bays, and each of those bays has 2 to 4 big curtain panels. That's a lot of panels that need to be laundered throughout...

Want to help ensure your OR team covers fire safety during pre-op time outs? Affix a small flame graphic to the lower left-hand corner of every mobile workstation screen...

Our nurses and techs used to crawl around on their hands and knees in search of a suture needle missing from the final count. Not only were we at risk of a needlestick,...

Can a urology waiting room designed to look more like a locker room prod men to get a prostate exam? The urology department at Mount Sinai Health System is...