Stepping into the role of an ASC infection preventionist without any prior experience or training felt like setting sail in uncharted waters....

Malignant hyperthermia (MH) is a rare hypermetabolic reaction a patient may have in response to a medication given during general anesthesia....

Achieving smoke-free ORs in the procedural setting at PIH Health Downey (Calif.) Hospital was one of the hardest practice challenges I’ve led...

Every October, National Sterile Processing Week takes place (Oct. 8 to 14 this year). It’s an opportunity for those who care for surgical instruments and equipment to be...

Training and education are at the forefront of everything we do in patient care. Unfortunately, when it comes to expanding the knowledge and skills...

ASCs are required by accreditors like AAAHC to educate staff and complete scenario-based simulations on “internal disaster” topics such as malignant hyperthermia...

Do you often feel stumped when it comes to creating fun, memorable and effective training ideas for your staff? ...

If you’re looking to improve the effectiveness of your training, there’s no need to reinvent the wheel. Instead, consider borrowing some ideas from...

Patient and staff safety are obvious core values of every surgical organization. Yet problems in this realm are ever-present, and less-than-stellar...

Welcome to A Day in the Life of an Administrator, our new online column, where we sat down with Carson McCafferty, MSN, RN, CNOR, CNAMB, CSRN...

The road to poor infection prevention practices is often paved with good intentions from staff. That’s why Michelle Barron, MD, is such a...

Getting your OR to remember all relevant surgical site infection (SSI) prevention protocols isn’t always easy — especially for the facilities with...

The healthcare industry is highly regulated and all organizations must adhere to specific requirements to ensure they are providing high quality...

If you want your staff to recall their training long after the in-service is done, you’ve got to make it fun, engaging and challenging....

Just because an instrument has been reprocessed doesn’t mean that it’s clean. In some cases, that’s because reprocessing techs are rushing and forced...

The number of unintended retained surgical items (URSIs) reported to The Joint Commission (TJC) continued to decline in 2022, with 88 events disclosed...

There’s nothing easy about cleaning flexible endoscopes. They’re fragile and expensive and one can argue the margin for reprocessing them safely is...

According to the Malignant Hyperthermia Association of the United States (MHAUS), malignant hyperthermia (MH) is a potentially fatal inherited...

If you want to go beyond the standard meet- and-greet when you add a new surgeon to your facility, consider doing something like UCHealth Yampa Valley Medical Center did.....

It’s a common occurrence in facilities everywhere: A newer nurse or a traveler will come into an OR and notice some slight variations in how the perioperative team is positioning the patient for the case....