Every time Lauren Bryan, RN, notices an OR team member following her facility’s robust hand hygiene protocols, she makes it a point to verbally acknowledge the compliance she just witnessed. It’s positive recognition, sure....

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

Palo Alto Medical Foundation Surgery Center Fremont (Calif.) has devised an effective solution for addressing situations when surgeons are a bit too eager to get to the next case. At the center, patients are asked to arrive earlier...

During the first wave of the pandemic, a colleague of Rebecca Norton, RN, said, “We’re going to do this.” She meant the staff at CentraState Healthcare System’s Ambulatory Surgery Center in Freehold, N.J., would successfully...

The extraordinary measures nurses took to combat COVID-19 has taken their toll on the profession and continue to worsen the ongoing crisis for the nursing workforce....

A little recognition and positive reinforcement go a long way. At UCHealth Yampa Valley Medical Center in Steamboat Springs, Colo., dedicated auditors reward staff who follow the facility’s hand hygiene protocols with a small bottle...

Staff at Eye 35 ASC in Schertz, Texas, make sure a team member in each department is always available on a walkie-talkie. The devices — used by pre-op and PACU nurses, surgical team members and runners who turn over...

If you doubt the contention that it can take years — or even decades — for evidence to trickle into clinical practice, look no further than the lack of progress in implementing...

Gender identity is your internal sense of self, how you relate to your place in the world. For transgender individuals, their gender identity doesn’t align with the sex...

Thirty years ago, I became a perioperative leader for the first time in my career. My three-decade leadership journey wouldn’t have been possible without the help of...

Looking for a creative way to consistently reward your staff’s ideas and efforts and reinforce your company’s core values? Consider an initiative like the “Heart, Brain and Courage Awards,” a daily recognition program created by...

Wrong-site surgery is devastating for the patient, the staff who worked the case and the surgeon who made the incorrect cut. Still, the avoidable error remains the third most...

Two years ago last month, the coronavirus began to spread across the country. The virulent strain, which most of us had never heard of before it quickly became part of...

I was raised to do the right thing and to stand up for the underdog. My dad, who was a middle school math teacher and basketball coach, advocated for the voiceless...

The National Ambulatory Surgery Center in San Jose, Calif., shares a small campus with other medical offices. Last spring, a man barged into the center’s administrative suite, where Marisa Ynchausti, RN, BSN, was working alone....

The pandemic has inspired healthcare facilities to invest more resources to support their hardworking providers. ChristianaCare in Newark, Del., was ahead of the trend when in 2016 it developed The Center for Worklife Wellbeing,...

Physicians at the endoscopy center at Florida Medical Center in Tampa perform between 75 and 120 cases a day, so the facility is always buzzing. At a recent meeting called to identify daily obstacles and brainstorm...

Members of perioperative teams must remember complex protocols — and know how to apply them in practice. McDonnell Outpatient Surgery Center at Piedmont Atlanta is part of a health system-wide safety program...

There has been a significant increase in the number of organizations stepping into the diversity, inclusion and belonging (DIB) space in recent years. It’s one thing for...

Staff appreciation gestures have been a mainstay of the first year of operations at National Ambulatory Surgery Center in San Jose, Calif. Whether it’s a more formal designation for the Employee of the Quarter...