They say breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but I'd rather sleep a few minutes longer than make bacon and eggs or eat cereal that changes the color of...

When I noticed patients who visited our hospital's emergency department carried their personal belongings home in single-use plastic bags, I knew there had to be...

Roughly 70% of retained surgical items are sponges, and roughly 80% of retained sponges occur with what staff believe is a correct count. No wonder OR managers...

To grasp the importance of preventing methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection in joint replacement patients, consider what happens if the bacteria...

The SafeHaven automated hand hygiene monitoring system helps you monitor, measure and manage compliance. Every time a staff member performs an alcohol...

Dirty instruments, broken instruments, missing instruments. In an ideal world, we'd never have to worry about the sterile processing department (SPD) causing...

If you've invested in robots, you might as well let everyone know that your facility offers the most advanced surgical technology. Our hospital, Pascack Valley Medical...

Do your surgeons and staff place their rings on a necklace or tie them to their scrub pants during a case? Now they can secure their rings to their bra straps with the Joleo...

I am the founder of Littlethanks (littlethanks.ca), a line of scrub-sized thank-you cards for nurses to let their fellow nurses know how much they appreciate and respect...

The impact inhalational anesthetics have on the environment is probably greater than you realize. Consider these planet-polluting realities:...

When does it make the most sense to buy prefilled syringes? Some say if you administer a drug 10 times or more a day, you’ll save considerable time not having to draw it up,...

This year's Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES) meeting in Baltimore provided a powerful snapshot of how far our discipline...

A few months ago, my staff came to me with a rather odd request. They wanted to convert an empty room off of the surgery area into a relaxation room, a mini-retreat...

I've conducted more than 1,000 fire drills at surgery centers. OR staff make the same 4 mistakes when trying to extinguish a simulated fire. These simple errors...

If you're like most surgery center administrators, you started out as a hospital OR circulator, an apprenticeship that didn't come close to preparing you for all the hats...

Kids like to drive electric cars to the OR. Older patients prefer the quiet ride of a motorized stretcher chair that transforms from seat to transport stretcher to OR...

It's human nature to want to apologize. When we cut someone off in traffic, when we forget to follow up on an email, when we say something that we shouldn't have,...

After the grind of the interview process, it's exciting when you find a nurse who will be a great addition to your team. You're hoping the person will blend well with...

Soon after I started my career in the OR 38 (!) years ago, the first Universal Law of OR Nursing grabbed me by my scrub jacket and shook me into a higher state of...

It takes about 24 hours for enough epithelial cells to proliferate across surgical wounds to protect the area from infection. You can tell patients to keep wounds...