Discharge can be a confusing time for patients and their family members. The after-effects of anesthesia cause some amnesia, and the information and directives about post-op care are given when family members might be...

Surgical incisions create openings and opportunities for the trillions of bacterial cells that live inside of the body, so efforts to prevent post-op infections shouldn't end until...

How did your widely used scale come to be? I met Donna Wong, the late co-author of the scale, in 1981. We shared a concern about...

Though often considered more of a niche procedure, replacing only the diseased part of the knee offers advantages to the right patient, including a faster recovery and higher satisfaction with the overall results, says...

The persistent pain above her ribcage made sleeping at night nearly impossible. "My primary care physician dismissed it as a muscular injury that would correct itself,..."

Early this year, one of the first total hip replacements paid for by Medicare was performed on a woman in her late 80s at our outpatient surgery center. This was only possible because the Centers for Medicare...

We should all engage in dialogues with people who are different than we are — whether that's a different race, gender identity, cultural background or generation — to learn about perspectives other than our own. Listening sessions...

Abulatory 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...

Everyone believes they have a general sense of "what" pain is. We've all stubbed our toes, slipped and fell, had horrible headaches or, worse still, stepped on Legos. Of course, this type of pain is incidental, unanticipated...

My career as a nurse anesthetist recently began at two plastic surgery centers, where I knew I'd face significant challenges in managing PONV. Rates of the relatively common...

As you read this column, I will have been vaccinated against the dreaded virus we've been fighting for the past 12 months and started a new assignment as a travel nurse. I plan to retire at the end of the year, so this gig...

It's important to keep everyone on your staff engaged and connected, and fun group activities can help create a sense of community among the team. Try inviting members of your perioperative department to submit unique...

We created a custom handoff form that's placed on top of each patient's chart to keep staff abreast of pertinent information that's not typically part of their medical record. In addition to noting case start and stop times...

Numbing nerves with local anesthetics relieves post-op pain for days at a time. Freezing them with a blast of targeted cold therapy can provide the same soothing effect for...

Every January, managers from the OR, anesthesia and central sterile gather to review our hospitals' policies and procedures in order to make needed changes. Because representatives from many different disciplines...

Great ideas for your OR

Outpatient Surgery Magazine's eNews Briefs. Bringing you the surgical news you want.

Outpatient Surgery Magazine's eNews Briefs. Bringing you the surgical news you want.

Outpatient Surgery Magazine's eNews Briefs. Bringing you the surgical news you want.

Outpatient Surgery Magazine's eNews Briefs. Bringing you the surgical news you want.