We're a couple months into our unlikely — and unprecedented — partnership in which 3 rival hospitals within a 50-mile radius own and use the same ambulatory surgery...

Jennifer Pennock is AORN's senior manager of government affairs, though lately a better title for her might be senior manager of smoke evacuation legislation efforts....

At the end of pre-op clinic appointments, I hand patients a business card that includes my personal email address and request that a family member send me a message...

Dedicated regional block nurses are invaluable when it comes to preparing patients for blocks, administering catheters and staying on schedule. But leadership doesn't always...

You've come to the right place if your surgeons and OR staff aren't happy with the gloves they're using, or if you're just looking for a better glove or a better deal. Not only...

How difficult is it to prep the skin for surgery? You pick an antiseptic agent and paint it on in concentric circles, beginning at the incision site and working outward,...

You can manually clean an endoscope until it shines and examine every millimeter of its insertion tube for pinhole leaks, but none of that matters if fluid remains in the scope's...

Ambulatory surgery center payment rates as a percentage of the hospital outpatient department rates have steadily declined over the years. In 2003, procedures...

We're all probably a little numb to medication safety. We get it. It's super important. We live the life. It's easy to become complacent until we have a problem....

Roughly 70% of retained surgical items are sponges, and roughly 80% of retained sponges occur with what staff believe is a correct count. No wonder OR managers...

When I noticed patients who visited our hospital's emergency department carried their personal belongings home in single-use plastic bags, I knew there had to be...

To grasp the importance of preventing methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection in joint replacement patients, consider what happens if the bacteria...

The SafeHaven automated hand hygiene monitoring system helps you monitor, measure and manage compliance. Every time a staff member performs an alcohol...

Study Finds Sedation Method Doesn't Affect Adenoma Detection Rate; No significant difference between moderate or deep sedation in colonoscopy detection rates.

Negligence Suit: Reckless Intraoperative Neuromonitoring During Spinal Surgery Led to Deadly Catastrophic Hypoxic Brain Injury; $4.2M settlement reached in suit that alleged physiatrist behind wheel and on phone instead of neuromonitoring patient's b

Class Action: 600 Ex-employees Sue Laser Spine Institute for 2 Months of Pay and Benefits; the chain of surgery centers closed without warning - now some stunned workers are seeking restitution.

A few months ago, my staff came to me with a rather odd request. They wanted to convert an empty room off of the surgery area into a relaxation room, a mini-retreat...

I've conducted more than 1,000 fire drills at surgery centers. OR staff make the same 4 mistakes when trying to extinguish a simulated fire. These simple errors...

The impact inhalational anesthetics have on the environment is probably greater than you realize. Consider these planet-polluting realities:...

It takes about 24 hours for enough epithelial cells to proliferate across surgical wounds to protect the area from infection. You can tell patients to keep wounds...