I am an avid reader of Outpatient Surgery Magazine because the articles are pertinent to my practice, cover the timeliest topics and remain a wonderful resource. However, your cover photo for the June 2005 issue is appalling! Nurses take pride in protecting a patient's privacy at all costs and this picture exposes areas that are inappropriate on the cover of a medical periodical. Readers would understand the point of Dr. Lack's procedure without this explicit picture. I am extremely disappointed at your choice of photo. Apologies are in order to your readers and to the model who posed for this picture.

Anne Steimle, RN, BS, CNOR
([email protected])

I am disappointed to see such a poorly chosen picture for the cover of the June issue. Even though it is a posed scene, it is in extremely poor taste to portray a female in this exposed position on the front cover of a mailing. Shame on you and the editorial board for allowing this into print! Which one of you would allow your wife, daughter or yourself to be viewed in this way? Such a lack of judgment puts the credibility of the entire contents on the line.

Rita M. Julius, RN, CNOR, MSA
Director, Surgical Services
Botsford General Hospital
Farmington Hills, Mich.
([email protected])

Your magazine cover needs a cover. We put a paper skirt on ours.

Name withheld upon request

Your June cover is an example of poor editorial judgment. There is no need to show the liposuction procedure from the angle used, which gives full view of the patient's undraped buttocks. In addition, the placement of the address label on the front cover hides the patient's undergarment rather than her anatomy, which makes the patient look more exposed than she really is. Most of your audience consists of experienced healthcare providers who are accustomed to viewing the human form in various states of exposure due to the nature of surgical procedures, but healthcare providers are still charged with protecting patients' dignity and privacy.

Name withheld upon request

Crash Carts Need Swiveling Wheels
Re: "Imagineering Your Equipment" (Ideas That Work, May, page 17). I congratulate Ms. Ulmer and her staff on their ingenuity. Having spent 40 years in and around ORs, ERs and ASCs, I think I have seen every variety of crash cart. Most that come from a hardware store have one minor problem that often makes them difficult to move into tight or narrow spaces: They generally have only two wheels that swivel. I would recommend that, if that is the case on her cart, she spend a few more dollars and replace any fixed wheels or casters with heavy-duty swivel ones that make maneuvering much easier. I hope they never need to use their cart, but codes rarely occur in convenient spaces and ease of maneuverability of the crash cart helps the resuscitation efforts start more quickly.

Jack Egnatinsky, MD
Anesthesiologist, AAAHC surveyor, FASA president
Christiansted, U.S. Virgin Islands
([email protected])

You're Not Alone in Infection Control Fight
Outpatient Surgery Magazine should be commended for its May 2005-06 Manager's Guide to Infection Control. The issue is full of critical information bound to help surgical services directors with one of the most important issues we face in healthcare. However, your coverage seems to omit an important aspect: Hospitals and clinicians are not alone in this fight. As manufacturers, we also must take responsibility by developing innovative, effective medical supplies that help clinicians in the battle against bacteria. Our entire industry must continue to aggressively pursue new technologies and solutions to improve safety, for our patients and for our future. Infection control is a healthcare community effort involving practitioners, clinicians, administrators and manufacturers.

Andy Mills
President
Medline Industries, Inc.
([email protected])