If you don't ask your patients if they smoke weed, you might want to start. As more states legalize both medicinal (33 states and D.C.) and recreational (10 states and D.C.)...

After years of running your busy facility, you finally decide it's time to see if the grass really is greener on the other side. Problem is, it's been so long since you've updated...

Before nursing students can go into the OR with the surgeons they’ve been assigned to, we show them the basics of hand hygiene, personal protection equipment...

Cleaning dirty endoscopes is a high priority, but the equally critical process of getting dirty scopes safely to the cleaning area — and keeping them clean on the way back...

When it comes to retained surgical items (RSI), you shouldn't assume anything, you should prove it. And if you don't see it, you should find it. Working in surgery,...

As patients' out-of-pocket healthcare costs continue to rise, more and more are taking out loans or lines of credit through their surgical facilities to cover their...

Halyard designed this one-size-fits-most cap with the latest surgical attire recommendations from AORN in mind: Headwear should completely confine hair...

Your surgeons might have the greatest training, the most accurate technique and work with cutting-edge equipment, but they can’t fix what they can’t see. Lighted...

Another reason to always read and follow IFUs: Some enzymatic detergents require that you test the water temperature before you clean instruments and devices...

The Laser Spine Institute's final day started like many others. Prospective patients called in from as far as the coast of Africa for consultations. Families flew in from Canada...

Scott Augustine, MD, begins an hourlong pitch about the dangers of the Bair Hugger forced-air patient warming system he invented — and is now campaigning against...

The next time you need a lesson in radiation safety, pop your head into a procedure room to watch an interventional pain doc at work....

Restaurant gift cards are nice, but if you’re looking for a way to honor your nurses for their extraordinary compassionate and skillful care in a way they’ll cherish long...

Patients often neglect to share important health information with their anesthesia providers before surgery. They might not realize that taking ginkgo biloba for memory,...

Can a urology waiting room designed to look more like a locker room prod men to get a prostate exam? The urology department at Mount Sinai Health System is...

More and more, I wonder if I'm still outpatient surgery material. I don't mean writing for Outpatient Surgery Magazine, but rather keeping up with all those pretty, perky...

Our nurses and techs used to crawl around on their hands and knees in search of a suture needle missing from the final count. Not only were we at risk of a needlestick,...

There aren't many versions available in the U.S. right now, but single-use, disposable cystoscopes and ureteroscopes are beginning to make an impact in outpatient...

If you've worked in an OR, you know the horror stories about surgical smoke. It could be the surgeon who never touched a cigarette suddenly developing lung cancer, the nurse...

Want to help ensure your OR team covers fire safety during pre-op time outs? Affix a small flame graphic to the lower left-hand corner of every mobile workstation screen...