At Eye 35, a busy ASC in Schertz, Texas, the staff strives to keep their patients calm and any excess paperwork to a minimum. “Some medical records such as medical history and medication reconciliation for the patient’s next surgery are held until their next visit....

Most facilities communicate clearly with patients about what they are likely to experience perioperatively when receiving nerve blocks, but what happens when they return to their homes after discharge?...

The patient care coordinators at Urology Health Surgery Center in Fort Washington, Pa., try to make sure their patients leave with smiles on their faces. To do this, they created a wall of laughs that is covered in silly “dad jokes” to...

A lot of information is presented to patients during the pre-op visit, and it’s nearly impossible for them to retain everything they learn. However, one thing you don’t want to fall through the cracks is information on the risks...

When patients are screened for procedures at St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center in Lewiston, Maine, nurses ask if they’ve recently run out of food before they had money to buy more, or if they’ve been worried about that possibility....

Nancy Yen Shipley, MD (@_NancyMD), an orthopedic surgeon at Multnomah Orthopedic Clinic in Portland, Ore., recently posted on #OrthoTwitter a unique hack she developed when handling a supply shortage....

Communication issues led to confusion for some Orange County Digestive Center patients who didn’t want the person who picked them up and drove them home to know the results of their procedure....

The national company that supplied Lakeland (Fla.) Surgical & Diagnostic Center with food and drinks was experiencing shortages and found itself unable to provide the facility with crackers for patients, diet soda for surgeons...

Teams in sterile processing departments are often tasked to do more with less, especially when surgeons push to perform more cases than the instrument inventory can handle and reprocessing techs are pressured...

Milton Lee (Chip) Routt Jr., MD, has always preferred to put pen to bedsheet. He has been drawing detailed illustrations of anatomy to facilitate his teachings to residents for decades. “The bedsheets of pre-op beds are great canvases...

The Medical Play Distraction Therapy program at Shriners Children’s Lexington (SCL), Ky., doesn’t end when pediatric patients are discharged. Parents are instructed to contact the recreational therapist who worked with...

Every surgical provider knows what a warm blanket can do for patient satisfaction. But why limit yourself to blankets? At Advanced CardioVascular Solutions in Oklahoma City, every patient who comes through its doors receives...

Intermountain Healthcare in Salt Lake City has contributed $20,000 to Valley Regional Transit to expand its Rides2Wellness Program, which helps people get to their medical appointments by providing free transportation....

Cynthia Hawks, BSN, RN, CNOR, CSSM, surgical clinical coordinator for neurology and ENT at Memorial Hermann The Woodlands Medical Center in Shenandoah, Texas, has had a copy of the April 2020 issue of Outpatient Surgery...

One of the best ways to fight back against the notion that high-volume procedures at busy facilities are the epitome of impersonal, assembly-line care is to add a personal touch whenever possible. Even the smallest efforts...

The Healthcare Sterile Processing Association (HSPA) recently hosted a webinar during which three guest speakers discussed strategies to maintain individual positivity and enhance the culture of the workgroup. One of...

In the main OR at University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics in Iowa City, surgical instruments were consistently going missing, so a multidisciplinary team sought to pinpoint the source of the issue and correct it. The result...

One of the ASCs run by the Florida Medical Clinic in the Tampa area has found a way to give its employees much-needed mental rests during busy days of surgery. Leadership bought two large coloring posters — one of a sloth...

You never want to run out of key supplies your surgical team needs on a daily basis, but you also don’t want to throw away items because they’ve expired. That’s why staff at Eye 35 ASC in Schertz, Texas, place star stickers on items...

The practice of requiring healthcare workers to search for medications by typing in at least the first five letters of the intended drug into automated dispensing cabinets (ADCs) would go a long way toward preventing potentially...