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

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...

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...

We're sticklers about ensuring staff wash or sanitize their hands before and after each patient contact. We use a secret code word, "Mango," to inform forgetful or...

You can keep your office door open or your ear to the ground and still not be tuned in to what your staff really thinks. Our "You Said, We Did" form solves that issue....

Healthcare facilities continue to face challenges in performing safe and effective endoscope reprocessing. Is it any wonder? The complex design of endoscopes makes...

Medication errors are all too frequent in the OR. A recent observational study identified an error in 5.3% of all anesthesia medication administrations — roughly 1 of every 20...

When we experienced an uncharacteristic increase in SSIs starting in August 2018 — 9 infections over the next 6 months — we assumed the spike was related to opening...

Complex cataracts are becoming more common as increasing numbers of patients show up for surgery with risk factors for poor pupil dilation — uveitis, diabetes,...

Patient-centered care is one of surgery's hottest buzzwords for a reason. The patients who walk into your facility expect excellent surgical care. That much is a given....

The essential elements of proper endoscope care begin well before the notoriously difficult-to-clean devices are ready for high-level disinfection. The following protocols...

My recent study showed that music can be just as effective as midazolam in calming patients' nerves before they receive peripheral nerve blocks. Based on those...

Let's face it, there are so many aspects of life in the OR that are downright frightening. From the spooky and shadowy to the gross and ghoulish, we nurses know all about...