Patient safety should be top of mind at all times, even when high-volume days and high-pressure situations threaten to distract the clinical team from taking the necessary steps to reduce the risk factors that can lead to adverse events....

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...

There’s a great deal of attention paid to the importance of optimizing the nutritional status of patients before surgery and doing away with NPO requirements to prepare them for the stress of invasive procedures...

Pressure injury prevention isn’t just about using the right positioning aids. It’s an ever-continuing process of monitoring, documentation, education, investigation, risk assessment and process improvement. A dedicated, interdisciplinary team...

About 45 minutes before surgery, Joseph Nessler, MD, will stop by pre-op to mark the correct surgical site of his total joint patients. He’ll say hello, note his initials where he intends to cut and ask if the patient has any last-minute questions....

The news cycle is filled with troubling reports of gun violence. Recently, in the span of just three weeks, mass shootings occurred at a supermarket in Buffalo, an elementary school...

In the event of an emergency, you and your staff won’t have a lot of time to act, but you can help increase the chances of effective evacuation by posting the details of your facility-specific route in high-traffic areas. Hunterdon Center...

Making sure patients are positioned for surgery with safety in mind is a critical part of any procedure. Issues with positioning can make a straightforward surgery...

The day was like any other to the physicians and staff who bustled about the Warren Clinic, the office space of an orthopedic medical group on the campus of...

Specimen handling is a complex process complete with many steps that healthcare providers must follow to the letter to ensure everything goes smoothly and safely....

OSHA estimates 5.6 million healthcare workers and related occupations are at risk of exposure to bloodborne pathogens — including HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C...

I have been a surgical nurse for more than 30 years and a patient numerous times. I’m fully aware, from both sides of the table, of the importance of safe surgical care. There are numerous factors that go into protecting...

If you asked your colleagues to define postoperative delirium and the symptoms to look out for, do you think they could answer you with confidence? Believe it or not, the condition is widely misdiagnosed because its symptoms...

The Gold Standard of Smoke-Free Surgery; When a nurse had an asthma attack following a plume-generating surgery, our perioperative team sprang into action.

When Robert Bray, MD, learned that DISC Sports and Spine Center in Newport Beach, Calif., achieved accreditation for the fifth consecutive year, he was already looking forward to the next one. The neurosurgeon...

With the danger of criminal prosecution hanging over their heads, how many frontline nurses — many of whom are already burnt out from the harrowing experiences...

No sterile processing department (SPD) manager wants to add another step to the complex and strategically redundant process of sterilizing surgical instruments....

Warming patients before, during and after surgeries delivers two primary benefits. The most obvious is the comfort. Warmth can do wonders to soothe a shivering, nervous...

Most surgical professionals are relatively knowledgeable about the best surface cleaning practices, and tried-and-true manual methods remain the best way to...

Studies have shown that up to 30% of the population may be colonized with Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) in their nares and up to 5% of U.S. hospitalized patients...