To say the pandemic has been a struggle for outpatient surgery professionals is a massive understatement. Now that facilities are back up to speed after last year's...

COVID-19 has all healthcare workers on edge — especially those involved in airway management. The coronavirus is found in sputum and upper airway secretions,...

How did you become a social media sensation? I was friends with Dr. Elvis Francois (aka, the "Singing Surgeon") when we were residents at the Mayo Clinic. He knew I played piano;...

With critical shortages of personal protective equipment during the pandemic and a manufacturing industry that can't keep up with the staggering demand from healthcare...

Random. My 28-year-old daughter, Dani, called to say she'd lost her sense of taste and smell. She's a pediatric occupational therapist in South Carolina. Her colleague has the same symptoms and tested positive...

Surgical facilities across the country are ramping case volumes back up to pre-pandemic levels even as the coronavirus rages through communities still recovering from...

OMS's Outpatient Prospective Payment System and Ambulatory Surgical Center final rule, which took effect on Jan. 1, substantially blurs the lines between inpatient and outpatient surgical care, as well as...

Running a surgical facility during the pandemic requires wearing many hats while keeping several balls in the air and numerous plates spinning. Norma Bacon, administrator at the New England Surgery Center...

Getting back up and running and returning to a sense of normalcy are phrases that have been thrown around since COVID-19 hit. As elective procedures such as colonoscopies began to ramp back up after last year's nationwide...

Most patients are nervous before surgery, especially now when family members and loved ones are unable to wait with them due to COVID-19 restrictions. That's why we tap into the calming effects of aromatherapy. We hand out...

We purchased four rolling desks that are used in our pre-op/PACU area. Staff like the adjustable surface, which lets them sit or stand while working. Each desk has plenty of storage space and a shelf where staff often keep...

We send patients home with blue neck pillows made from memory foam for ergonomic support and personalized handwritten notes from their surgeons. Some patients have lengthy drives awaiting them after surgery,...

With opioid-sparing protocols firmly positioned as the standard for managing post-op pain, surgeons and anesthesiologists have become masters of multimodal analgesia, perfectly combining a little bit of this with...

Patients who undergo surgery on their birthdays definitely deserve special treatment, so we make a point to scan the case schedule every morning to check if a patient is celebrating a life milestone. If they are, we surprise them...

Last year was obviously challenging for our surgery center. The staff was physically and emotionally exhausted from working in one of COVID-19's first national hot spots, and sorely needed the annual holiday dinner...

Ambulatory surgical facilities have pivoted quickly during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has shown clinical teams are able to make a number of changes in short order. In this new world of must-dos, though, we can't lose sight of...

Patients were already a bit nervous when they would arrive for their endoscopies or colonoscopies, and we noticed that sitting in the waiting room watching the news would often stress them out more. We thought, why not get rid...

CMS requires surgery centers to have infection preventionists on staff. Some facilities assign providers to the role simply to fulfil the requirement, but infection prevention has taken on a greater significance during...

Retained foreign objects were the most frequently reported adverse event between 2015 and 2017, according to The Joint Commission. We decided to tackle this issue head on by developing a custom count board...

There are several ways to ensure your staff is properly trained to handle a malignant hyperthermia emergency. Making them sit through yet another annual in-service or having them read dry educational materials...