Make Your Facility More Inclusive; Tips to help you navigate the landscape of sexual orientation and gender identification.

Electrosurgical injuries are estimated to occur in 1 to 2 out of every 1,000 laparoscopic procedures. That doesn't seem like many, but when you consider about 2 million...

The effects of single-shot nerve blocks and oral analgesics wear off soon after patients arrive home, leaving them in a significant amount of discomfort....

I've been blessed to check off another year as an OR nurse. Now is as good a time as any to give thanks for the good fortune and one-of-a-kind experiences...

Same-day spine is one of surgery’s hottest specialties thanks to several new technologies that are making complex surgeries simpler for surgeons, more accurate...

If your surgeons are asking for near-infrared fluorescence imaging, you might be wondering what the technology is used for and whether it makes sense to add it...

Simple solutions are almost always best. No one will accuse your facility of providing groundbreaking surgical care if you make sure patients clean their skin before...

Are your facility's venous thromboembolism (VTE) rates higher than the national standard of 3.72 events per 1,000 patient discharges? In 2016, our VTE rate rose...

How long has it been since you last heard about the importance of limiting the use of opioids to manage post-op pain. A few months since your last national...

Administering medications in the OR is wrought with challenges thanks to the patient's rapidly changing condition and constant distractions occurring in a fast-paced,...

For Mandy Pate, RN, CBN, everything about the sleeve gastrectomy was familiar. She knew every square inch of the operating room at the University of Michigan...

We're sticklers about ensuring staff wash or sanitize their hands before and after each patient contact. We use a secret code word, "Mango," to inform forgetful or...

Complex cataracts are becoming more common as increasing numbers of patients show up for surgery with risk factors for poor pupil dilation — uveitis, diabetes,...

You can scrub every inch of an OR until your elbows ache, but the minute someone steps into that clean space the air becomes contaminated simply because of...

You can keep your office door open or your ear to the ground and still not be tuned in to what your staff really thinks. Our "You Said, We Did" form solves that issue....

Healthcare facilities continue to face challenges in performing safe and effective endoscope reprocessing. Is it any wonder? The complex design of endoscopes makes...

When we experienced an uncharacteristic increase in SSIs starting in August 2018 — 9 infections over the next 6 months — we assumed the spike was related to opening...

Medication errors are all too frequent in the OR. A recent observational study identified an error in 5.3% of all anesthesia medication administrations — roughly 1 of every 20...

The essential elements of proper endoscope care begin well before the notoriously difficult-to-clean devices are ready for high-level disinfection. The following protocols...

Patient-centered care is one of surgery's hottest buzzwords for a reason. The patients who walk into your facility expect excellent surgical care. That much is a given....