Each year, OAM Surgery Center at MidTowne in Grand Rapids, Mich., holds an education day for staff to ensure they are compliant with CMS and AAAHC requirements. If you’re expecting boring stories of clinicians sitting in classrooms watching dry...

There’s plenty of compelling big-picture data out there to support the need for meticulous and consistent point-of-use instrument care. A 2020 study in BMJ Quality & Safety is a great example....

Electrosurgical devices are used in virtually every operating room across the country, so it’s worrisome that surgeons and surgical teams don’t receive formal training on how...

Too often pressure injuries are thought of as an inpatient problem, an issue that’s highly unlikely to occur during the shorter procedures performed in outpatient facilities...

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

Malignant hyperthermia (MH) doesn't often occur, but when it does the mortality rate is extremely high if the condition is not treated soon after symptoms appear. This quiz can help you determine if your staff is ready to immediately jump into action...

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...

Superior safety benefits and error-reduction capabilities. Significant time savings. Reduced waste. The benefits of premixed, prelabeled syringes far outweigh the minimal drawbacks, so why are there still facilities that insist on...

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...

There’s no question the invention of video laryngoscopes changed the way providers tackled the critical issue of airway management. But for years after these game-changing devices hit the market, usage was limited only to those...

You’ve had a chaotic morning. The first patient of the day canceled their procedure and your nurse navigator called in sick, throwing your facility’s entire schedule off track....

Sound electrosurgical safety practices often come down to preventing complacency from setting in among the staff who use these high-powered devices to cut and coagulate tissue during countless surgical procedures.

There’s no shortage of compelling data and research on exactly what it takes to prevent pressure injuries. The trick is finding practical ways to put that evidence into...

A high-volume OR is booked to perform six consecutive hand surgeries. Five are scheduled on the right hand, and one, the fourth operation of the day, which is scheduled for 3 p.m., is scheduled on the left hand....

It looks at one of the core challenges the American healthcare system faces today, through the lens of interviews with experts across the healthcare spectrum, by exploring solutions to the problem, rather than maliciously...

The effects of a single retained surgical item (RSI) are often catastrophic to the unfortunate patients who fall victim to these sentinel events. As for the facilities who commit these never-events, the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority...

This special issue of Outpatient Surgery Magazine is dedicated to safety from both the patient and the staff perspectives. It’s a topic that is near and dear to me for many reasons. As a nurse with more 30 years’ experience working at...

Facilities with the foresight to invest in the blending of surgeon skill and technological advancements are shaping the future of surgery. MultiCare Health System in Tacoma, Wash., added...

Total hip replacements, those life-changing surgeries that allow nearly immobile patients to enjoy a level of activity they thought was gone forever, are already some...