During fire drills — as well as in the event of an actual fire emergency — some facilities place a magnet on the outside of a room that says “Checked” or similar language to confirm that a room has been evacuated. This ensures...

You notice a sudden rise in the patient’s temperature and end-tidal CO2 levels along with an elevated heart rate and the early signs of muscle rigidity. The symptoms point...

Successful airway management can mean the difference between an uneventful surgery and a devastating outcome. “Anesthesia providers need to diligently evaluate...

Most cataract surgeons can remove a cloudy natural lens and implant an IOL in less than 10 minutes, so high-volume ophthalmic facilities thrive by finding ways to...

The steady movement of total hip and knee arthroplasties to outpatient ORs shows no signs of slowing down thanks to advances in minimally invasive surgical...

Stretcher chairs enable patients to remain on one surface from pre-op through a procedure and all the way to PACU. They eliminate the need for staff to laterally transfer...

Staff at Einstein Endoscopy Center in Blue Bell, Pa., used to receive annual ergonomics training based on a standardized program designed by experts who work for the large health system that owns the facility. The instruction...

The pandemic has highlighted the important work performed by surgical professionals and infection preventionists in surgery centers across the country as concerns...

The Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN) has released an updated guideline on preventing unintentionally retained surgical items (RSIs) that includes the recommendation to use technology to locate...

Several years ago, a 96-year-old woman who was experiencing severe chest pain came to see me. She could no longer eat and explained that — for 40 years! — she had been...

Surgical professionals are growing more interested in finding ways to eliminate opioids from the post-op pain management equation and the stakes have never been higher....

We’re almost two years into the pandemic and by now the revamped infection prevention protocols you rushed to implement in order to keep your doors open must...

It’s the middle of a hectic day and your worst nightmare just happened. A patient has fallen, and now you must check for potential injuries and reassure them and their family members that everything is alright....

Coming up with a discreet way to identify patients who have bloodborne pathogens such as HIV or hepatitis B — infectious diseases that pose risks to staff members — simultaneously maintains patient dignity...

Medicare requires surgical facilities to have an emergency plan in place for rare and dire events that could take place in a healthcare setting. Of course, even the most comprehensive emergency plan won’t help if...

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Surgeons clearly don’t intend to cause stray energy burns when they cut and coagulate tissue with energy-based surgical...

What does safe surgical care mean to you? Eliminating avoidable adverse events by developing and maintaining competent teams...

Focusing on the clinical aspects of multiple complex procedures during a busy day of surgery is stressful for surgical teams, so it’s understandable that the basic steps...

Proper medication safety requires surgical leaders to ask some very tough questions. Are employees stealing drugs for consumption or resale? Did a staffer not dilute a drug...

Proper medication safety requires surgical leaders to ask some very tough questions. Are employees stealing drugs for consumption or resale? Did a staffer not dilute a drug...