Cataract surgery is usually performed quickly and typically without incident. It’s the recoveries that could prove problematic. Patients must administer a staggering number...

Charles E. Miller, MD, FACOG, had already sold his surgical team on the 4K video platform he wanted for performing same-day minimally invasive gynecologic surgeries....

Hardworking professionals in ORs and sterile processing departments should respect each other’s efforts, but consternation between the two groups is often more common...

The patient at John Muir Hospital was extremely anxious while waiting for her surgery to start and had no loved ones present to support her, which the pre-op nursing staff...

Katie Yarber, RN, BSN, says delivering babies at Houston Methodist Hospital during the height of last year’s COVID-19 restrictions has been the highlight of her career. “It was...

My young daughter wakes up in mid-sentence. Each morning, she stands next to me as I pack her lunch and talks about pinecones and princesses and Play-Doh. Mmm, hmm. Wow. Oh really?

Focusing on the clinical aspects of multiple complex procedures during a busy day of surgery is stressful for surgical teams, so it’s understandable that the basic steps...

What does safe surgical care mean to you? Eliminating avoidable adverse events by developing and maintaining competent teams...

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Surgeons clearly don’t intend to cause stray energy burns when they cut and coagulate tissue with energy-based surgical...

Proper medication safety requires surgical leaders to ask some very tough questions. Are employees stealing drugs for consumption or resale? Did a staffer not dilute a drug...

Proper medication safety requires surgical leaders to ask some very tough questions. Are employees stealing drugs for consumption or resale? Did a staffer not dilute a drug...

Why don’t all healthcare facilities employ some sort of surgical smoke evacuation system? Not only does surgical smoke smell and obstruct the surgeon’s view of the...

Using barcode scanning or radio-frequency identification to confirm the accuracy of manual counts will result in fewer sponges left inside patients, yet surgical professionals...

A nurse suffers a serious back injury while trying to lift a patient without help. A patient falls during the transition from the OR to the PACU. Unfortunately, these issues happen...

Kathy Beydler, RN, MBA, CNOR, CASC, has seen her fair share of slips and trips in the OR — some resulting in significant injuries and missed work time — during her time as a...

All too often, misconceptions regarding the inherent safety risks associated with intraoperative fluoroscopy obscure a fundamental truth about C-arms: With the right...

Every time we send out a staff engagement survey, we include the following question: Does your manager have a safety-first mindset? The question may seem out of place on an engagement survey,...

Rampant wildfires, historic flooding, destructive hurricanes and record-setting heat waves have made this year one for the record books. And while the weather outside is becoming increasingly erratic and impossible...

BD has introduced the first ready-to-use aqueous povidone-iodine surgical wound irrigation solution. The Surgiphor Sterile Wound Irrigation System comes sterile, pre-labeled, pre-mixed and ready for one-time use....

Effective sharps safety is a multifaceted endeavor. It requires a holistic approach that incorporates mindfulness, effective communication, safety-engineered devices,...