Any reprocessing tech worth their scrub brush knows dirty instruments can't be properly sterilized. There's another instrument care risk hiding in plain sight, however,...

The sterile processing staff at Winchester (Va.) Medical Center reprocesses trays of instruments sent to them from 15 ORs. That's a lot to manage, so perhaps it's no surprise...

From the HIV crisis of the 1980s to the H1N1 pandemic of 2009 to the Ebola outbreak in 2014, Maureen Spencer, MEd, RN, CIC, FAPIC, has seen a lot during her more than...

Imagine working in a facility where 50 orthopedic surgeons have their own unique skin prepping protocols. Factor in 20 nurses who are trying to support the variations...

When Can Vendor Reps Return to ORs? New recommendations support their safe reentry during the COVID-19 pandemic.

High-volume surgery centers need to take advantage of any operational enhancements they can to stay ahead of the game. That's why we've become proactive about IV starts...

Reprocessing technicians have one of the most important jobs in an endoscopy center. The complicated and detailed task of cleaning and reprocessing multiple scopes...

“I’m done,” said my wife, sliding her chair back from the breakfast table on a recent Saturday morning. Or was it Wednesday?...

When the coronavirus outbreak caused a shortage of personal protective equipment at our hospital, we jumped at the chance to help and developed the prototype for a DIY...

A one-word sign on a fleet of fluid waste management carts lets your OR team know which devices have been emptied and cleaned and which ones haven’t. After we...

Like some of you, I had planned to canvas the booths in the exhibit hall at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Annual Meeting in Orlando in March....

It’s been nearly two months since the coronavirus began to invade every facet of our day-to-day lives. Heck, it virtually shut down our very livelihood when elective...

Walk into an OR where 4K video is showing on flat screen monitors and try not to gawk. "The quality of the video images displayed in today's ORs are remarkable," says...

Post-operative nausea and vomiting is the last thing patients who've just had surgery need to deal with. Whether PONV is caused by anxiety, a bad reaction to anesthesia...

On April 17, the Trump administration issued a three-step plan for reopening the American economy as parts of the nation begin to emerge from the coronavirus...

There’s no silver-bullet, one-size-fits-all replacement for opioids in the management of post-op pain, so clinicians are experimenting with various drugs and techniques,...

Working in the ICU comes as a culture shock to surgical professionals who have grown accustomed to the immediate gratification of caring for patients where successful...

Healthcare professionals don't do well sitting still. If your staff is faced with too much free time during the COVID-19 crisis, look for non-clinical tasks that need to be done...

I've been working near the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City, intubating patients on a special team formulated specifically to manage the airways of...

Finally, thankfully, ORs have begun to reopen for elective procedures in communities where COVID-19 cases are on the decline. The coronavirus pandemic that temporarily...