With an estimated 10,000 baby boomers retiring every day, surgical facilities need to prepare for the wave of older patients headed for the OR. When it comes...

Monitoring hand hygiene compliance need not be a bore of a chore. No, you can make it fun. I gave our managers “Presidio Police” badges and water guns filled with...

Earlier this year, we performed a trigger finger and carpal tunnel surgery live on our Facebook page. The idea stemmed from a simple goal: We wanted to give our...

The only hospital-acquired condition that increased in volume between 2014 and 2017? Pressure injuries, which rose by 6%. By point of comparison, surgical site...

Whether you’re looking to relieve the pre-procedure anxiety of your patients or to help your staff through trying or stressful times, consider adding a furry...

Every year, physicians perform millions of off-label epidural steroid injections (ESI) to treat neck and back pain — despite the risk of rare but serious and sometimes fatal...

We set out to walk the massive exhibit floor of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) conference, but we never got very far before a cool, new product...

You make every effort to ensure your patients’ comfort for the few hours that they pass through your facility, but what about your surgeons and staff? Like gladiators,...

To remind the surgical team of the correct surgical site, we printed out stacks of "left" and "right" signs and laminated each one. In pre-op, we clip a sign to the patient's...

Surgeons sometimes obsess over screen size, so fixated on a monitor's diagonal length that they overlook the 3 P's: positioning, proximity and pixels. Yes, size is...

We're told we are part of a surgery team. But how much teamwork actually happens where you work? OR nurses are known for being tough, smart, no-nonsense,...

If given a choice, patients would much prefer to get their post-op care instructions by watching a 1-minute video on a tablet in PACU rather than reading a packet...

At our facility, we have 31 pre-op and PACU bays, and each of those bays has 2 to 4 big curtain panels. That's a lot of panels that need to be laundered throughout...

Cataract surgeons who claim they're not worried about piercing the posterior capsule with a sharp instrument or oscillating phaco tip? "They're either lying or...

When patients show up for surgery, our front desk receptionist hands them a numbered tag and writes the number on the envelope in which we keep their...

We believe it’s a good idea for our community that we help patients with no insurance who are unable to have surgery. Some time ago, one of our surgeons was looking...

For all the benefits of laparoscopic cholecystectomy, a persistent problem continues to plague one of the most commonly performed surgical procedures:...

The pain response is a built-in warning system, nature’s way of protecting us from further harm. Chronic pain is more like nature’s nagging nuisance....

Here’s a look at 5 promising ways to tamp down the intense, persistent post-surgical pain of orthopedic surgery....

Ever cringe when you overhear your front desk receptionist answer a patient's question (complaint) with all the warmth and compassion of a cactus? You might want to try...