Patient positioning aids range from simple gel pads to elaborate table attachments. However, there are certain common denominators you should consider when evaluating these vital products that prevent...

Transferring patients between stretchers and surgical tables presents plenty of challenges for members of the surgical team. Nurses and support staff are at risk of suffering muscular injuries caused by lifting...

Patients who are being prepped for surgery are often nervous and distracted with what’s going on around them. It’s important to ensure they comprehend and correctly confirm what’s noted on consent forms before...

Most people who make a mistake feel embarrassed, but often these experiences can be a valuable learning tool. In fact, sharing what could have gone wrong with colleagues helps them avoid similar missteps. That’s why staff...

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Proper patient positioning before shoulder surgery prevents painful nerve and pressure injuries, and gives surgeons critical access to hard-to-reach areas of the joint space....

Your staff must know how to immediately respond if a patient’s airway catches fire, surgical equipment starts to spark or flames erupt in the sterile field. It’s helpful to designate specific roles for each surgical team member...

Surgeons at Houston Premier Surgery Center in The Villages sign surgical sites in pre-op and huddle with the surgical team in the OR to make sure they signed the correct spot. It’s often a straightforward process, but orthopedic...

A lot can go wrong when patients are placed in steep Trendelenburg. This high-risk position has many well-known dangers, such as shearing injuries that occur when...

Bonnie Weinberg, MSN, RN, CNOR, is a soothsayer of simulation training. “She truly has a gift,” laughs Donna Lagasi, RN, MS, BSN, director of OR services at The Valley Hospital...

While many facilities were shuttered during the pandemic’s first wave, OMNI Surgery Center’s quick action allowed surgeons to use the facility’s four operating rooms for urgent cases when former New York Governor...

At their core, anesthesia machines are basically all the same: They administer inhalational agents to induce sedation or general anesthesia while maintaining...

At my most recent full-time clinical role in a hospital, there was a significant issue with post-op infections in patients who underwent colon procedures. We instituted...

While the staff at our small outpatient center performed yearly malignant hyperthermia (MH) simulation training, many of us agreed that we could be doing more. MH is...

In the rapid-turnover, high-volume world of outpatient surgery, anesthesia professionals prepare for the worst but hope for the best. In a vast majority of cases,...

Ask Mike MacKinnon, DNP, FNP-C, CRNA, about the benefits of video laryngoscopes, and he’s likely to tell you about a specific case he did several years ago. Dr. MacKinnon,...

The first thing two anesthesiologists said when asked about deep monitored anesthesia care (MAC) was that the term is often misunderstood by surgeons or patients who...

Avoid using medication containers with barcodes imprinted horizontally on rounded surfaces because they could result in scanning failures that compromise patient safety, warns the Institute of Safe Medication Practices (ISMP)....

Joseph A. Caprini, MD, FACS, RVT, DFSVS, is succinct in explaining why you must make DVT prevention a priority. “The leading cause of death after surgery or hospitalization...

Brenda Ulmer, MN, RN, CNOR, and Angela Hohn, RN, BSN, BS, CNOR, have accomplished so much together that it’s almost impossible to believe that the two...