Before critical procedures like our high-volume thyroidectomies, we gather a multidisciplinary team to play a game of "What Could Go Wrong?" in which we discuss...

At our ASC, 15% to 20% of our patients speak Spanish as their primary language. For many years, we've partnered with East Tennessee State University's (ETSU) Language...

The patient is prepped and draped, and I'm seated to begin my charting. Only then do I realize that I've forgotten to record the serial number of the SCD box. I'd have to hop...

How will you protect your staff if there's an active shooter in your facility? We've trained our staff using the FBI-endorsed Run, Hide, Fight protocol. If staff can't safely evacuate...

We hang an image of the American flag on the OR door to alert the surgical team that the patient is a combat veteran who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder...

My orthopedic patients are often groggy from the effects of anesthesia when I meet with them minutes after surgery to let them know how the procedure went and what...

Certain procedures cause anxiety for patients. That’s especially true at my facility, where we’re treating children. When we received a $13,000 grant for 3 virtual reality...

Children at Roxana Cannon Arsht Surgicenter in Wilmington, Del., were so stressed saying goodbye to their parents before heading to the operating room for dental...

It’s one thing to log and track laboratory specimens and post their results in the patient’s chart. But that doesn’t confirm that the ordering healthcare provider read...

Having music playing in a surgical facility can make patients more comfortable. As a nurse who’s also a Julliard-trained violinist, I’ve taken it a step further by performing...

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....

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...

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...

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...

Want to keep things running smoothly all day? Then get off to a fast start with your first-time starts. Here's how we did it:...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...