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....

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...

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...

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.

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:...

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...

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

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...

If you're like most surgery center administrators, you started out as a hospital OR circulator, an apprenticeship that didn't come close to preparing you for all the hats...

Kids like to drive electric cars to the OR. Older patients prefer the quiet ride of a motorized stretcher chair that transforms from seat to transport stretcher to OR...

I am the founder of Littlethanks (littlethanks.ca), a line of scrub-sized thank-you cards for nurses to let their fellow nurses know how much they appreciate and respect...

When does it make the most sense to buy prefilled syringes? Some say if you administer a drug 10 times or more a day, you’ll save considerable time not having to draw it up,...