A large hospital had so many case carts full of trays backed up during the day they struggled to turn around instrument sets in less than 24 hours. Within 6 months,...

On the 1st day of Christmas my OR gave to me … PTSD from the Devil incarnate of a scrub tech I had to work with every day. I would call her a witch or a female dog...

Our surgery center doesn’t have a cafeteria, so family members who were waiting for their loved ones in surgery used to leave if they wanted a quick bite to eat. When surgeons...

Make Your Facility More Inclusive; Tips to help you navigate the landscape of sexual orientation and gender identification.

I've been blessed to check off another year as an OR nurse. Now is as good a time as any to give thanks for the good fortune and one-of-a-kind experiences...

Most surgical administrators dread the day. You know the one. It’s the morning you get the call that an accreditation surveyor is in the lobby waiting to analyze every...

A Better Way to Care for Autistic Patients; This protocol makes care easier on and better for patients, families and providers.

The effects of single-shot nerve blocks and oral analgesics wear off soon after patients arrive home, leaving them in a significant amount of discomfort....

Are you sure your staff is diverting recyclable materials from white bag waste? For 2 weeks I gathered and weighed recycling bags filled during procedures,...

As the ergonomics and injury prevention specialist for 11 hospitals, I was responsible for tracking the causes of the most frequent and severe injuries by department,...

Fighting the Incivility War; Teaching and requiring respectful behavior improve staff morale, patient safety and the bottom line.

Electrosurgical injuries are estimated to occur in 1 to 2 out of every 1,000 laparoscopic procedures. That doesn't seem like many, but when you consider about 2 million...

Simple solutions are almost always best. No one will accuse your facility of providing groundbreaking surgical care if you make sure patients clean their skin before...

Same-day spine is one of surgery’s hottest specialties thanks to several new technologies that are making complex surgeries simpler for surgeons, more accurate...

If your surgeons are asking for near-infrared fluorescence imaging, you might be wondering what the technology is used for and whether it makes sense to add it...

One of our staff members noticed that we're always touching our ID badges, and that pre- and post-op staff touch their stethoscopes, and even the time clock to punch...

Well, that was a blast. A record number of top surgical leaders from across the country gathered in the Big Easy for 3 days packed with presentations by national experts,...

Kids driving themselves to the OR in motorized cars isn’t new, but creating a road for them to follow and letting them dress up as superheroes on the way...

Our facility’s satisfaction surveys revealed low scores and negative comments in reference to the quality of our communication with patients and their family...

Surgery can be scary for anyone, but especially so for the littlest of patients. That’s why we provide kids with crayons and surgery-specific coloring books....