There are several ways to ensure your staff is properly trained to handle a malignant hyperthermia emergency. Making them sit through yet another annual in-service or having them read dry educational materials...

Last year was obviously challenging for our surgery center. The staff was physically and emotionally exhausted from working in one of COVID-19's first national hot spots, and sorely needed the annual holiday dinner...

Ambulatory surgical facilities have pivoted quickly during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has shown clinical teams are able to make a number of changes in short order. In this new world of must-dos, though, we can't lose sight of...

Running a surgical facility during the pandemic requires wearing many hats while keeping several balls in the air and numerous plates spinning. Norma Bacon, administrator at the New England Surgery Center...

OMS's Outpatient Prospective Payment System and Ambulatory Surgical Center final rule, which took effect on Jan. 1, substantially blurs the lines between inpatient and outpatient surgical care, as well as...

Getting back up and running and returning to a sense of normalcy are phrases that have been thrown around since COVID-19 hit. As elective procedures such as colonoscopies began to ramp back up after last year's nationwide...

Most patients are nervous before surgery, especially now when family members and loved ones are unable to wait with them due to COVID-19 restrictions. That's why we tap into the calming effects of aromatherapy. We hand out...

We purchased four rolling desks that are used in our pre-op/PACU area. Staff like the adjustable surface, which lets them sit or stand while working. Each desk has plenty of storage space and a shelf where staff often keep...

We send patients home with blue neck pillows made from memory foam for ergonomic support and personalized handwritten notes from their surgeons. Some patients have lengthy drives awaiting them after surgery,...

Patients who undergo surgery on their birthdays definitely deserve special treatment, so we make a point to scan the case schedule every morning to check if a patient is celebrating a life milestone. If they are, we surprise them...

With opioid-sparing protocols firmly positioned as the standard for managing post-op pain, surgeons and anesthesiologists have become masters of multimodal analgesia, perfectly combining a little bit of this with...

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You do countless things over the course of a case to ensure a successful outcome, but often don't think to include them in the patient's chart because, well, they seem like...

The concept of enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) has been around for more than 20 years, introduced in colorectal and abdominal cases as fast-tracked "accelerated...

Your surgeons can spend hours poring over data about what they need to do to ensure a superior surgical outcome, but when they actually go into the OR to operate,...

There's a lot riding on turning over operating rooms quickly between cases. It ensures high-volume surgeons start their surgeries on time, patients pass through pre-op...

Leadership at our facility believes in hiring the best people possible — then letting them do their jobs. To make this happen, we don't employ traditional pecking orders or a typical hierarchical structure. Medical reps talk...

The buck stops with sterile processing techs, who are ultimately the ones responsible for returning complete instrument sets to ORs on time and properly sterilized....

Monthly one-on-one talks with each of my staff members gives them the chance to speak about any issues they have and talk openly about whatever subject they choose to discuss. The meetings are brief check-ins...