May 2022

RaDonda Vaught stood in silence next to her attorney, seemingly resigned to her fate as the jury rendered its verdict. Guilty of gross neglect of an impaired adult. ...

Patients who have their knees and hips replaced at Yale Medicine in New Haven, Conn., are ready to head home the day of surgery in large part because they’re given shots...

If you doubt the contention that it can take years — or even decades — for evidence to trickle into clinical practice, look no further than the lack of progress in implementing...

Total hip replacement is a life-changing operation. Patients who were once riddled with pain are able to move about freely and return to their routine activities. Efforts to ensure...

Surgeons are elite athletes in the operating room. They remain focused while executing precise maneuvers with complex instrumentation, and push through the pain of fatigued muscles...

Performing immediate sequential bilateral cataract surgery (ISBCS) offers plenty of potential benefits. Surgeons appreciate being able to halve post-op visits...

Hysterectomy is the second most common surgery for women performed in the U.S., second only to cesarean section, and increasing numbers of surgeons are opting...

When you place patients head down with their stirrup-supported legs reaching skyward at a 30- to 45-degree angle, there is a laundry list of things that could go wrong,...

Staff at Eye 35 ASC in Schertz, Texas, make sure a team member in each department is always available on a walkie-talkie. The devices — used by pre-op and PACU nurses, surgical team members and runners who turn over...

A little recognition and positive reinforcement go a long way. At UCHealth Yampa Valley Medical Center in Steamboat Springs, Colo., dedicated auditors reward staff who follow the facility’s hand hygiene protocols with a small bottle...

Palo Alto Medical Foundation Surgery Center Fremont (Calif.) has devised an effective solution for addressing situations when surgeons are a bit too eager to get to the next case. At the center, patients are asked to arrive earlier...

You put a significant amount of time and energy into ensuring staff keep their hands clean. The same should hold true for your patients. It’s best to encourage or even require them to wash or degerm their hands...

When pediatric surgeries began ramping up at St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center in Lewiston, Maine, the anesthesia and nursing teams wanted to be sure young patients felt comfortable in their care. “One CRNA mentioned that...

During the first wave of the pandemic, a colleague of Rebecca Norton, RN, said, “We’re going to do this.” She meant the staff at CentraState Healthcare System’s Ambulatory Surgery Center in Freehold, N.J., would successfully...

Mistakes are bound to happen. I’ve made my share, especially during countdowns to print deadlines when page proofs are flying, stress levels are rising and the clock...

The extraordinary measures nurses took to combat COVID-19 has taken their toll on the profession and continue to worsen the ongoing crisis for the nursing workforce....

Concerns from surgeons and nurses about the quality of our instruments forced us to determine the root cause of the issue. First, we had to find out if it was related to...

My son is 29 years old and living with autism. It’s been challenging as a parent to raise him in a world that doesn’t always understand or accommodate his unique needs....

Five or 10 years ago, a basic anesthesia machine was perfectly suitable in many outpatient ORs. Times have changed, however, as the differences between hospitals...

PDI Healthcare’s Super Sani-Cloth Germicidal Disposable Wipes are now available in a softpack, which contains 80% less plastic than the company’s traditional large canister dispensers....

Everyone is talking about the RaDonda Vaught criminal conviction, so you know I’d have to chip in my two cents. Like so many of my fellow nurses, I haven’t been able to stop...