Innovation starts with change. And change comes in many different forms – perhaps it's a natural progression as industries and professions evolve or, conversely, it could be...

Brett Johnson, one of the world's best cyber thieves before he became one of the good guys, reads the headlines and know he's missing out on easy pickings. The pandemic...

Linda Spaulding, RN, CIC, is a fixer of sorts. When facilities are having a problem with their infection control practices, they call her in to figure out how to solve it. Based on...

Identifying the right candidates for surgery is the first and most critical aspect of successful outpatient total joints programs. "Patient selection is everything," says...

I started working as a nurse in 1980. Not even three weeks into my training, I was learning how to assist a difficult-to-work-with surgeon during a challenging case. The process brought me to tears — literally. At one point,...

Great ideas for your OR

During my anesthesia training, instructors would often compare the complexities of administering sedation to learning how to fly a plane. Anesthesia providers, like their pilot counterparts, undergo rigorous training....

Bundled payments lead to cost-effective orthopedic care by allowing providers to make decisions based on what's best for their patients and the bottom line. How does it work?...

Spine tables are highly configurable, versatile and functional, and key to achieving clinical success in a specialty known for complex cases. When evaluating the options for purchase, the top concern is finding the right fit...

Last year, Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare furloughed approximately 3,400 members of its workforce and specifically cited the pause in elective surgeries due to COVID-19 as the reason for the move. Of course, Tenet was hardly...

Endophthalmitis is a rare, but potentially devastating, eye infection that can cause permanent loss of vision. Advances in instrument sterilization practices, more effective...

A year ago, Ari Collins agreed to speak with me weeks after the George Floyd murder ignited the nation’s racial and social reckoning. Ms. Collins, a surgical tech in Denver, shared her unfiltered thoughts about systemic racism...

In her quest to create an anti-racist healthcare system, DeAnna Minus-Vincent, MPA, often thinks about her grandfather. Ms. Minus-Vincent, senior vice president and chief...

The medication errors that cause serious patient harm can be avoided through better safety practices and system changes. Half of the items that landed on the Institute for...

Communication apps and online management software improve overall efficiencies by helping to properly prepare patients for surgery and making sure cases start on time....

If it’s a chore to get everyone on board with helping to keep your facility clean, schedule “cleaning parties” during times when no surgeries are scheduled. During these dedicated cleaning days at our eye surgery center,...

Hopefully, we’ll never experience another pandemic and mandatory shutdown of elective surgery again. But if we do, we now know exactly how to keep our staff busy with meaningful work while they wait to reenter the OR....

When our management company instituted a day of service held on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, we jumped into action to see how we could support our local community. Two of our nurses, Patty Boyle and Dunbar Salin, worked with...

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...

In our July 2020 issue, several surgical professionals bravely shared their experiences of racism and expressed hope for a more inclusive future. We asked them to reflect on...