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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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,...

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...

In an emergency, there's no time to waste. From bad weather to bad outcomes, your staff must be prepared to respond to all sorts of emergencies — knowing what to do...

Another reason to always read and follow IFUs: Some enzymatic detergents require that you test the water temperature before you clean instruments and devices...

Before nursing students can go into the OR with the surgeons they’ve been assigned to, we show them the basics of hand hygiene, personal protection equipment...

Our cataract surgery patients never have to move from their pre-operative stretcher chair. We’ve programmed our 4 chairs to the exact height needed, per station,...

My day begins at 5:45 a.m. sharp when I walk from pre-op to PACU to check on everything from medical gases to medications. Here’s the mental checklist I complete...

Ever take a close look at your trash? When we did, we found we were needlessly throwing away sponges and supplies. • Sponges. Only sponges that are grossly saturated in blood...

When you rewrite your policy on reducing pressure injuries, you then need to get the right pressure redistributing devices to implement the policy. We invited vendors...