Life in our small ASC is different from most hospitals in our area. We've traded responding to emergency codes in ICUs for the pleasure of spending holidays with loved ones, and the hustle and bustle of ERs for...

For most patients, wearing a surgical mask is a minor inconvenience and a necessary part of receiving care in the era of COVID-19. For patients with a hearing impairment who rely on reading lips, however, a mask effectively severs...

The COVID-19 vaccines are beginning to be administered and you face the possibility that some members of your staff will refuse to get inoculated. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has...

Challenges still exist in providing equitable access to health care for all people. This has been evident during the pandemic, which has disproportionately impacted people of color, particularly African Americans and...

Surgery centers become outdated after about 20 years. Ours certainly had. Its four ORs were constantly filled to capacity. The waiting room was cramped. Walls felt like they...

The couple minutes you spend applying a nasal antiseptic to joint replacement patients before they undergo surgery is well worth your time. I tested the impact nasal...

It can be challenging to connect with patients or family members who have hearing or vision impairment, or have limited English proficiency, especially if staff don't have the auxiliary aides necessary to communicate effectively....

When Concord (N.H.) Orthopaedics was designing its brand-new surgery center, two words dominated all discussions: future expansion. The group's leaders made every...

Cardiac surgery is the next frontier for same-day surgery. The movement of cardiovascular care from hospitals to freestanding surgery centers is being driven by...

It's often obvious when you outgrow your current space. At one of my former hospitals, the surgical schedule extended way too late in the day, surgeons weren't happy, and patients and staff complained about delayed...

When our editorial team researched the long list of new and recently renovated ASCs and HOPDs, we were impressed by the many examples of healthcare design at its finest....

Healthcare professionals often take their cues from the hospitality industry when designing new facilities. They want patients to be happy with the care experience,...

Patients who go NPO in the hours leading up to their surgeries aren't physically prepared for the physical trauma they're about to endure. "Surgery is a major stress on the body," says Steven Bisch, MD,...

Staff who need to call a code blue during an emergent situation sometimes hesitate to ask for help. In our hospital, nurses are educated and encouraged to call a code as soon as the need arises. An educational program...

The two-inch red circle on the patient's sacrum was unmistakable. A PACU nurse noticed the deep tissue injury during a post-op assessment and called over to pre-op to see if one of her colleagues had documented...

Our facility's break room is very small, so we've posted a sign that says only six employees at a time can gather there during the pandemic. Numerous staff members are on break at once, though, so we spaced chairs...

In the past tumultuous year as the pandemic raged across the country, outpatient facilities have been the subject of a renewed focus within the healthcare community...

If you want to roll out a patient warming protocol that requires your facility to invest time, resources money — and, of course, a change to the status quo — you need to give leadership a compelling reason why...

Reprocessing techs in our hospital who prepare instrument sets for sterilization use a seven-point checklist to ensure trays have been properly assembled. The checklist helps techs ensure instrument sets are loaded properly,...

Late last month, my cellphone buzzed with a text from my mom. She had sent a picture of her "I Got My COVID-19 Vaccine" sticker and said my dad got his, too. I was working on deadline, but paused, surprised by...