When Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signed into law last year a measure that required hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers to eliminate surgical smoke, it was a big win for the nurses...

This special issue of Outpatient Surgery Magazine is dedicated to safety from both the patient and the staff perspectives. It’s a topic that is near and dear to me for many reasons. As a nurse with more 30 years’ experience working at...

The Advanced Medical Technology Association (AdvaMed) says original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) meet the highest standards for servicing medical devices,...

A New York City surgeon pleaded guilty to financial crimes in connection with an extensive trip-and-fall scheme that authorities say included performing unnecessary back...

Coach orthopedic patients to better outcomes throughout their entire episode of care with exacCoach by Exactech. The virtual system features fully customizable messaging for sending automated and personalized texts...

I used to believe surgical facilities should operate just like the airline industry. Can you blame me? Flight crews rely on safety checklists, built-in redundancies and meticulous protocols to make sure planes take off...

Monkeypox continues to pose a threat since an outbreak of cases began in the U.S. earlier this year. As of Sept. 29, the CDC reported 26,631 confirmed cases...

Our endoscopy center opened in December 2019, a few months before COVID-19 hit. My head was spinning not only from trying to run a brand new facility, but from rapidly changing infection prevention protocols...

When I founded the Atlas Surgical group of ASCs 15 years ago, we outsourced our billing operations. Our collection rate was about 80%, which was acceptable, but not stellar. I came to realize...

The national company that supplied Lakeland (Fla.) Surgical & Diagnostic Center with food and drinks was experiencing shortages and found itself unable to provide the facility with crackers for patients, diet soda for surgeons...

Teams in sterile processing departments are often tasked to do more with less, especially when surgeons push to perform more cases than the instrument inventory can handle and reprocessing techs are pressured...

Every surgical provider knows what a warm blanket can do for patient satisfaction. But why limit yourself to blankets? At Advanced CardioVascular Solutions in Oklahoma City, every patient who comes through its doors receives...

The Medical Play Distraction Therapy program at Shriners Children’s Lexington (SCL), Ky., doesn’t end when pediatric patients are discharged. Parents are instructed to contact the recreational therapist who worked with...

Milton Lee (Chip) Routt Jr., MD, has always preferred to put pen to bedsheet. He has been drawing detailed illustrations of anatomy to facilitate his teachings to residents for decades. “The bedsheets of pre-op beds are great canvases...

The movement of gynecology cases to same-day surgical spaces is being driven by physicians who want to perform procedures on carefully selected patients in comfortable and safe environments, according to...

Promising research and early use of high-tech devices are providing a glimpse into what could someday become the norm in the same-day joint-replacement...

Interventional radiology (IR) is slowly finding its way into ASCs. IR physicians perform a wide variety of “pinhole surgeries” — minimally invasive procedures that leverage catheters, wires, needles and sheaths — using image guidance...

This page is often the hardest to fill. I typically save it for last, writing it to wrap up the issue before sending the final proofs to the printer. I’m often up late the night before deadline day trying to formulate my thoughts...

The anterior or the posterior approach — which is better for total hip replacements? The debate has raged in the orthopedic community at conferences, in journals and online as surgeons often discuss the technique...

There are many steps to manage in the endoscope reprocessing process and missing or rushing through just one can lead to improper high-level disinfection and patient harm. “Endoscopes are very complex and intricate medical devices...