March 2023

Even though some minor heart procedures have been taking place in outpatient settings for years, performing more complex same-day cardiovascular interventions is very much in its infancy....

Jesse Hixson, MSN, RN, CNOR, administrator for the Monroeville (Pa.) Surgery Center, expected orthopedic and cataract surgeons to be extremely discerning and opinionated about the surgical gloves they used....

The best way to mitigate risk is to catch it before it happens. That’s the whole idea behind standardizing a surgical checklist — providing constant confirmation to safely ensure the patient’s care....

With endoscope repair, cost isn’t the only consideration. Providers require consistent, high-quality availability and prompt turnarounds to avoid risks to performance and throughput....

It’s a common occurrence in facilities everywhere: A newer nurse or a traveler will come into an OR and notice some slight variations in how the perioperative team is positioning the patient for the case....

Successful wound care is about staying true to the basics. Not every surgical wound will need an antimicrobial dressing or wound vac. But paying special attention to closing every surgical site properly...

The only proven treatment for treating glaucoma is controlling intraocular eye pressure. However, the range of procedures that can achieve this goal vary in terms of invasiveness as well as patient and surgeon comfort....

Like their large-bone-specialist counterparts, surgeons who work on hands, feet, ankles and elbows have a wide array of power tools to use for drilling, sawing, inserting K-wires, reaming and other tasks....

Big changes to rules on sterile compounding, labeling meds and safer use of medication administration technology are a few key practice updates that will be published electronically this month in AORN’s Guideline for Medication Safety on eGuidelines+....

To further reduce the risk of medical errors, the management team at WellSpan Health Apple Hill Surgical Center, a multispecialty ASC in York, Pa., identified a need to improve communication, teamwork and...

Instagram is often touted as a mindless distraction, but sometimes that endless scrolling can lead you to an ingenious idea. For example, @rnnewgrads, an Instagram page with more than 30,000 followers,...

WVU Medicine has created an online platform that allows patients and surgeons to communicate with each other online after low-risk procedures as a part of their follow-up care....

When a child is scheduled for a surgical procedure — even a quick and routine tympanostomy or tonsillectomy — the experience can leave parents rife with anxiety....

If you want to go beyond the standard meet- and-greet when you add a new surgeon to your facility, consider doing something like UCHealth Yampa Valley Medical Center did.....

A recent survey of more than 100 patients from the University of North Carolina Medical Center in Chapel Hill showed that they form perceptions about the competence and kindness of clinicians based on the color of scrubs they are wearing....

Hey, random question: When you got that stent, you didn’t go to a surgery center, did you?...

Virtually every article, webinar or how-to guide on flexible endoscope reprocessing includes some version of this advice: Be sure to follow the manufacturer’s Instructions For Use (IFU)....

As more procedures from more specialties make their way to the outpatient arena, ASCs are understandably tempted to expand their offerings by adding new service lines....

With ASCs increasingly taking on more complex surgical cases, there is a growing movement for surgery centers to take on patients who have traditionally been relegated to hospital-only care...

Soon after I started my career in the OR 42 38 (!) years ago, the first Universal Law of OR Nursing grabbed me by my scrub jacket and shook me into a higher state of consciousness....