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....

The best way to mitigate risk is to catch it before it happens. That’s the whole idea behind standardizing a surgical checklist — providing constant confirmation to safely ensure the patient’s care....

Even though some minor heart procedures have been taking place in outpatient settings for years, performing more complex same-day cardiovascular interventions is very much in its infancy....

Flexible endoscope care is a complex, multilayered process rife with opportunities for errors and missed steps....

Packed OR schedules and staffing shortages conspired to cancel Kadlec Regional Medical Center’s annual skills fair, which was scheduled to take place in its simulation lab near its main campus in Richland, Wash...

With the surge in joint replacements and other orthopedic surgeries moving to ambulatory care, ASCs also face a higher risk for surgical site infections (SSIs)....

Each year, OAM Surgery Center at MidTowne in Grand Rapids, Mich., holds an education day for staff to ensure they are compliant with CMS and AAAHC requirements. If you’re expecting boring stories of clinicians sitting in classrooms watching dry...

Major change doesn’t happen overnight — especially in the world of surgery. Little by little the trends of today mold and shape the industry of tomorrow. For facility leaders, keeping up with these changes is an absolute imperative....

It's been more than a year since COVID-19 heightened the importance of following proper infection prevention protocols. Are you curious to see if your staff's knowledge...

Malignant hyperthermia (MH) doesn't often occur, but when it does the mortality rate is extremely high if the condition is not treated soon after symptoms appear. This quiz can help you determine if your staff is ready to immediately jump into action...

You’ve had a chaotic morning. The first patient of the day canceled their procedure and your nurse navigator called in sick, throwing your facility’s entire schedule off track....

Sound electrosurgical safety practices often come down to preventing complacency from setting in among the staff who use these high-powered devices to cut and coagulate tissue during countless surgical procedures.

There’s no shortage of compelling data and research on exactly what it takes to prevent pressure injuries. The trick is finding practical ways to put that evidence into...

The effects of a single retained surgical item (RSI) are often catastrophic to the unfortunate patients who fall victim to these sentinel events. As for the facilities who commit these never-events, the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority...

Not long after we opened the doors to our small outpatient center in 2004, we experienced our first sharps injury. That was just the wake-up call we needed to ensure the event was a one-off mistake and not an unfortunate...

Milton Lee (Chip) Routt Jr., MD, has always preferred to put pen to bedsheet. He has been drawing detailed illustrations of anatomy to facilitate his teachings to residents for decades. “The bedsheets of pre-op beds are great canvases...

A little more than six years ago, Beki Kazanofski, MSN, RN, CNOR, NE-BC, was in the OR when a needle caught the very tip of her glove. “Thank god I was double-gloved, and I had that extra layer of protection,...