November/December 2024

Welcome to A Day in the Life of an Administrator, our online column, where we sat down with Jessica Hovland, DNP, RN, CPAN, NE-BC, PMGT-BC, administrative director...

Struggling to meet the quality reporting deadlines? Impacted by the recent hurricanes? You may be getting a bit of a break!

It’s been approximately two months since Hurricane Helene crippled the facility that makes 60% of the IV fluids used in U.S. healthcare facilities....

If you’re serious about superior patient satisfaction scores, then you need to be laser-focused on superior pain management....

It’s not unusual for members of operating room teams and sterile processing departments to have strained relationships....

Sharps injuries in the OR are on the rise, according to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)....

The focus in sterile processing is often on processes and technology, but the quality of the water being used in sterile processing departments (SPDs) is all too often...

Patients expect stellar surgical care, but as years of satisfaction survey scores attest, they judge their overall experience on far more than that....

Why should a surgery center become more sustainable? The energy intensity, expensive supplies and significant waste generated in surgery offer plenty of opportunities to...

Traditional thinking about pressure injuries (PIs) can lead to many providers only being on guard against them when caring for older patients in acute-care settings who have...

Most experts believe high-level disinfection (HLD) activities should be standardized but not centralized. “Centralization of disinfecting activities — especially with scopes...

JD Buchert, MSN, M.Ed., MS, RN, recalls a patient encounter that has stuck with him over the years, one of many cases that has helped shape his understanding of how...

“It feels like you are in a spaceship,” says Ally Silver, FACHE, MPH, assistant vice president of surgical services operations at Stony Brook (N.Y.) Medicine, of the health...

Sterile processing leaders do everything they possibly can to ensure staff follow all the intricate steps and complex processes necessary to ensure surgical instruments are...

Got a backlog of colonoscopy cases clogging up your center’s schedule? Blocking out just one Saturday a year to focus on the backlog can work wonders....

Tampa Surgery Center serves a large volume of patients who receive laser eye treatments, including YAG capsulotomy, superior and inferior selective laser...

As the year comes to an end and facilities take stock of their practices in 2024, it’s helpful to review concerns expressed by patient safety groups and consider the...

Choosing the right work gear for your feet is far from a no-brainer when your job is in the perioperative arena....

From my position, there are only two types of bosses: Those who value editorial content and those who don’t....

A concerning trend in ambulatory surgery is the growing need to subsidize anesthesia services....

Well, here we are, approaching the end of 2024. I am surprised at how quickly each year goes by, and how each year seems to go faster than the year before....

Countless articles have been written about the staffing crisis facing healthcare facilities. These pieces often focus on the dangers of the nursing shortage in America’s most...

It’s funny how some memories come back to you. One afternoon when I was about eight years old, my stepdad and I were out running errands and we decided to stop at a...