When patients are recovering from intense surgeries at home and something unexpected or concerning occurs, they need to know whether what they’re experiencing is a common-but-alarming natural byproduct of their surgical journey...

How do you get kids comfortable with the idea of going under the knife? You give them a glimpse into the operating room, making sure there are plenty of teddy bears to go around....

Combine the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recently lowering the recommended initial colorectal screening age from 50 to 45 with the influx of newly scheduled screenings from patients who postponed their colonoscopies during the height...

The $1.7 trillion federal spending package passed by the lame-duck Congress last month includes a 2% reduction in physicians’ pay for Medicare cases, which experts in the same-day surgical industry say will have multiple immediate negative...

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...

From the time a patient schedules their surgery at your facility to the time they leave the PACU to head home, they’re quietly grading your every move....

Many patients suffer from both cataracts and glaucoma, so why not address both conditions during the same surgery? While such an efficient option seems like a no-brainer, in reality it’s not quite that simple....

Major change doesn’t happen overnight — especially in the world of surgery. Little by little the trends of today mold and shape the industry of tomorrow. For facility leaders, keeping up with these changes is an absolute imperative....

Patients decide to have their knees, hips and shoulders replaced when the debilitating effects of degenerative joint disease impact their daily lives, preventing them from...

Understanding the Dangers of Perioperative Hypothermia; The preventable condition increases risks of post-op infection, serious complications and longer recovery times.

No matter how long you actively warm your patients or when you opt to do it, one basic but crucial factor in the equation is the devices you use to do it in the first place. The many variables involved, not to mention the many options on the...

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....

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....

No provider wants their patients to feel nauseous in recovery, but the importance of preventing one of surgery’s most dreaded complications seems a bit higher when children are involved — especially because kids are twice as likely as...

Standardization is often the common denominator among successful total joints programs. Take Knoxville Orthopaedic Surgery Center (KOSC), which opened in December 2009 and has had a total joints service line...

I used to believe surgical facilities should operate just like the airline industry. Can you blame me? Flight crews rely on safety checklists, built-in redundancies and meticulous protocols to make sure planes take off...

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...