April 2022

Two years ago last month, the coronavirus began to spread across the country. The virulent strain, which most of us had never heard of before it quickly became part of...

St. Cloud (Minn.) Surgery Center underwent a recent renovation to accommodate a steady increase in demand for outpatient arthroplasties. The center expanded...

Surgical sponges and other items used during surgery should never be left in the patient, and yet retained foreign object (RFO) events continue to occur. Why?...

John Urse, DO, FAOAO, a board-certified orthopedic surgeon in Dayton, Ohio, says performing hip arthroscopy is not a technically demanding task. Getting in and out of...

It’s been a little over a year since Penn Medicine in Philadelphia opened its Interventional Support Center (ISC), one of the largest instrument reprocessing facilities...

Wrong-site surgery is devastating for the patient, the staff who worked the case and the surgeon who made the incorrect cut. Still, the avoidable error remains the third most...

Losing weight isn’t solely about looking and feeling good. Healthcare professionals are beginning to realize obesity is an incurable chronic disease that causes inflammation...

Efforts to keep your GI center running on all cylinders should focus on one all-encompassing goal: optimizing efficiencies. That’s according to gastroenterologist...

Looking for a creative way to consistently reward your staff’s ideas and efforts and reinforce your company’s core values? Consider an initiative like the “Heart, Brain and Courage Awards,” a daily recognition program created by...

Visitor restrictions put in place during the pandemic at Lakeland (Fla.) Surgical & Diagnostic Center made it difficult to keep patient escorts updated on the status of their loved ones’ surgeries. To help keep the lines...

The dexterity needed to advance the catheter once you’re in the vein when placing an IV line is a fine motor movement that isn’t commonly used, so it takes plenty of practice to develop. To master the technique, hold a pen like...

Looking for a fun way to spice up your next staff meeting or in-service? Gather 10 to 20 needle holders that have at least one thing wrong with them — a cracked box lock, chipped insert, loose ratchet — and throw in a couple...

When New Tampa Surgery Center Nurse Manager Beth Hoy, MSN, RNFA, ON-C, CNOR, scrubs cases, she takes meticulous notes on the techniques and preferences of each surgeon. She turns her notes into surgeon- and case-specific...

This is it, right? This has to be the beginning of the pandemic’s end. Masks are coming off, large crowds are gathering and restaurants are taking reservations. If the pandemic isn’t over on paper, it sure feels like it is in practice....

Thirty years ago, I became a perioperative leader for the first time in my career. My three-decade leadership journey wouldn’t have been possible without the help of...

Gender identity is your internal sense of self, how you relate to your place in the world. For transgender individuals, their gender identity doesn’t align with the sex...

Surgical professionals know opioids are not always the best way to control post-op pain, yet many still focus on using the drugs to help patients feel comfortable...

Large health systems, physician practice management companies (PPMs) and private equity firms are buying physician practices in waves across the country. This rolling up...

Cumberland Pharmaceuticals’ Caldolor, an IV formulation of ibuprofen, is now FDA approved for preoperative use. When given before surgery, the non-narcotic pain reliever...

It’s been more than two years since COVID-19 was officially declared a pandemic. Well, technically, when this issue went to print, it has been two years, 18 days and four hours,...