October 2022

irst, I felt nauseous. Then, I felt pain in my lower abdomen. My head began to ache, and I had a slight temperature. It was early April, during the peak of the coronavirus...

Awareness continues to develop around the negative health effects of surgical smoke, which contains harmful chemicals, carcinogens, bacteria and viruses. Spending a full...

There's no time like the present to take full advantage of regional anesthesia to manage post-op pain. Nerve blocks are being placed with more precision, patients are...

Anesthesia providers are placing intubation boxes between themselves and the patients they're intubating to serve as a barrier against COVID-19-containing aerosolized...

If your ears begin to feel the pinch from wearing masks all day as you return work during the coronavirus outbreak, reach for a Barrel of Monkeys. It's one of the many...

Now that electives are back on, I’ve become nostalgic for insanely packed days of 25-plus surgeries with four rooms humming, nurses crisscrossing the hall and a waiting...

Elective surgeries are back on the schedule and staff are returning under new circumstances and different expectations. As you begin to perform procedures amid the...

I’m known for crafting surgical caps made of bright colorful fabric and giving them to my colleagues as small gestures of how much I appreciate working with them....

Medi-Dose/EPS has added blue, red, orange, green and pink options to its popular line of bright yellow Lid-Label Covers. The additional colors will help providers identify...

The battle for control of the thermostat is a common occurrence in ORs and a source of undo stress for the surgical team. We decided to give final say of the room's...

Being forced to quarantine at home during the coronavirus outbreak has been relatively easy to manage. Can’t go to work. Can’t hang out with friends and family....

It’s been three months since the coronavirus outbreak shuttered outpatient operating rooms across the country, leaving surgical professionals to wonder how long the hiatus...

Our boutique ophthalmic surgery center caters to cataract patients who pay out of pocket for premium lenses and expect a higher level of comfort and service. We roll...

The nature of spine surgery makes the risk of wrong-site errors greater than in any other surgical discipline. Similar-looking vertebrae, patient obesity, anatomic...

Even before the coronavirus crisis, operating a surgical facility in one of Alaska’s largest cities brought unique challenges. Patients from rural villages in the state’s rugged...

Even if your facility isn’t on the frontlines of the battle to combat COVID-19, you can still find ways to join in and help. For our temporarily shuttered surgery center, that meant...

Many surgical staff members went to areas hit hardest by COVID-19 to lend their desperately needed skills to patients infected by the virus. Even those who weren't on...

Effectively screening patients for COVID-19 is part of pre-op protocols as outpatient facilities across the country slowly begin performing elective procedures again....

It’s hard to believe 20 years have passed since the enactment of the Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act. The landmark legislation requires surgical facilities to identify,...

We wanted to know if surgeons are liking what they’re seeing during surgery, so last month we asked readers for their thoughts on the imaging technologies used in...

One positive that's come out of the COVID-19 pandemic is a renewed focus on proper infection control practices. Facilities everywhere are ramping up their protocols...

As elective procedures resume during the COVID-19 outbreak, you need to tactfully communicate with anxious patients, help financially strapped individuals afford surgery,...

Elective procedures are beginning again in areas of the country where the curve of the new coronavirus is flattening. If you already have strong infection prevention...