It was the end of a busy day in Stanford Hospital’s oncology clinic and I was completely spent from the grind of my responsibilities as a surgical intern. I wanted to find a quiet...

The nation's melting pot is at a full boil. Consider that racial and ethnic minorities in this country will become the majority population in the coming decades. The United States...

For most patients, wearing a surgical mask is a minor inconvenience and a necessary part of receiving care in the era of COVID-19. For patients with a hearing impairment who rely on reading lips, however, a mask effectively severs...

Healthcare professionals are expected to practice cultural humility and provide patient-centered care to diverse individuals who have different cultural backgrounds than their...

Like most surgical leaders, you're probably eager to put 2020 in the rearview mirror and start fresh with next year's initiatives and goals. The problem is, so many surgical staffs...

Many surgical professionals learn best by doing. If you bombard them with information about what to do in the event of a malignant hyperthermia (MH) emergency, but don't...

Practicing daily gratitude is proven to have significant health and psychological benefits, including improving quality of sleep, lowering depression levels, blood pressure and...

Ten years ago, Jaines Andrades, DNP, AGACNP-CC, was working as a janitor at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, Mass. Today, she's caring for patients alongside the...

Remember Why You Work in Surgery; The beauty of compassionate patient care can reenergize your career.

I was working as a brand-new circulator when the surgeon on the case started making snide comments about one of the OR nurses — a sarcastic jab here, a dig there. Soon...

It's easy to get complacent in the way you run your facility, especially when familiar and effective workplace routines make it easy to fall into the trap of thinking "our way...

Many surgical staff members went to areas hit hardest by COVID-19 to lend their desperately needed skills to patients infected by the virus. Even those who weren't on...

Letting valuable members of your staff go has to be the worst part of your job. After all, you entered health care because you have a calling for helping others and no doubt...

From late physicians to cases going longer than expected, you can't control the many factors that lead to lengthy, frustrating surgical delays. But you can control how well...

Do some of your staff members seem disengaged or distracted? Is someone suddenly showing up late to meetings and unwilling to share their thoughts and feelings...

Salary Survey: Your annual paycheck checkup

Near the end of the day, 6 recovery room nurses were standing around the PACU desk chatting it up. Not one of them was doing chart reviews or making follow-up calls...

Fighting the Incivility War; Teaching and requiring respectful behavior improve staff morale, patient safety and the bottom line.

The workplace environment at our surgery center is healthy and morale is high. We have regular pot luck dinners and wear T-shirts designed by the daughter of one of...

Two words that strike fear in the heart of every OR manager: open time. That, of course, is when your ORs sit silent and empty while it's standing-room only in the staff...