As freestanding surgery centers welcome an ever-growing number of hopeful total joints patients, core components of successful programs have enabled various surgery centers to capitalize on the surge.

Ever since the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, surgical leaders and their teams have dealt with unprecedented levels of stress, as well as exceedingly volatile staffing situations....

Between the effects of a once-in-a-generation pandemic, increased patient demand and an aging population that will soon exceed the number of nurses available, ambulatory facility leaders everywhere are...

Leaders of outpatient surgery centers are forever asked to do more with less, but 2022 was an extreme version of that dynamic for many. As the COVID-19 pandemic continued its excruciating journey to...

In a world where frontline healthcare workers are being challenged more than ever before, it can be tough to convince your nurses and techs to step up and fill leadership roles in the OR and throughout your outpatient surgery facility....

For the past decade, I’ve written my column on resolutions I planned to make in the New Year, the many well-intentioned goals I can never seem to keep. But this year I thought I’d try something different....

My hospital’s sterile processing department is responsible for turning around 1,500 instrument trays a day, and we take every measure possible to ensure...

Building a $50 million new construction project without a major health system as a partner is no easy trick, but that’s just what two western Wisconsin practices did....

Amy Avila, RN, CCRN, CSC, has always loved to draw, but the student registered nurse anesthetist didn’t think to link her passion to her profession until she saw a Facebook post...

When the clock struck midnight in 2000 and I convinced myself that Y2K wouldn’t actually cripple the very fabric of our society, I promised myself I’d dunk a basketball on a regulation hoop by year’s end....

Packed OR schedules and staffing shortages conspired to cancel Kadlec Regional Medical Center’s annual skills fair, which was scheduled to take place in its simulation lab near its main campus in Richland, Wash...

When patients are recovering from intense surgeries at home and something unexpected or concerning occurs, they need to know whether what they’re experiencing is a common-but-alarming natural byproduct of their surgical journey...

After much work, communication and trial and error, the staff at Eye 35 ASC in Schertz, Texas, have fine-tuned and standardized their surgical packs to match their exact needs....

When OrthoArizona recently decided to hold a food drive, it pulled out all the stops. Rather than limiting the effort to one facility helping a single community, it placed donation boxes at each of its more than two dozen locations in...

How do you get kids comfortable with the idea of going under the knife? You give them a glimpse into the operating room, making sure there are plenty of teddy bears to go around....

Up until a few years ago, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center didn’t have a standard surgical smoke evacuation program in place. While having such a program may seem like a no-brainer for one of the nation’s leading cancer centers...

Juan A. Sanchez, MD, FACS, describes the OR as a “target-rich environment for sharps injuries.” Dr. Sanchez is the chair of the committee on Perioperative Care at the American College of Surgeons, and he says a perfect storm of factors in...

The relationship between opioid use during and after surgery and the opioid addiction crisis is a complex one. While ineffective pain management can make recovery a nightmare, there’s a real risk for many patients when it comes to opioid addiction....

With the surge in joint replacements and other orthopedic surgeries moving to ambulatory care, ASCs also face a higher risk for surgical site infections (SSIs)....

Combine the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recently lowering the recommended initial colorectal screening age from 50 to 45 with the influx of newly scheduled screenings from patients who postponed their colonoscopies during the height...