Cutting Remarks: Are we really discharging that patient? The little white lies we tell our patients to send them home sooner.

Legal Update: Tapping into the self-insured employer market. Direct contracts with employers cut out insurance's middleman.

Is prolonged fasting hurting your patients? Our survey found that most surgical facilities routinely instruct patients to fast for excessively long pre-op periods

Ideas That Work: Innovative ideas. 4 Ways to Boost Your Hand Hygiene Efforts

How do you manage fluid waste? Readers reveal what it takes to keep OR floors dry during the messiest procedures.

Make assembling instruments sets easy and efficient with this Idea That Works from Minnesota.

Get the most out of your Malignant Hyperthermia drills. 11 tips to help make sure you're prepared for the worst.

Thinking of Buying ... A C-arm. Streamlined design and digital data have improved imaging.

Infection Prevention: Improving your antibiotic prescribing. Nurses can prevent antibiotic overuse by becoming stewards.

In Case You Missed It ... Check out the top 10 viewed features on outpatientsurgery.net

Protect fragile blades with this Idea That Works from Pennsylvania.

Editor's Page: fired for fighting for patient safety. Pre-admitting RN says hospital's call quotas jeopardized patient care.

The case for IV anti-inflammatories. IV NSAIDs should figure prominently in multimodal pain protocols.

Keep patients' escorts happy with this Idea That Works from California.

Coding & Billing: 6 strategies to get your claims paid correctly. Don't let minor errors in coding, registration or billing trip you up.

Get flashing under control with this Idea That Works from Florida.

Take our blanket warmers quiz. Bonus points if you know the recommended maximum temperature for warming cabinets, and if warmed blankets can burn a patient.

Our switch from blue wrap to sterile containers. A busy orthopedic hospital's containerizing conversion.

Pearls to prevent cross-contamination. Infection preventionists share their top SSI threats and what you can do to stop them.

Clear visibility. Don't let smoke, fog and debris impede your surgeon's view.