December 2021

The early November morning broke cool and clear, a perfect day for the 50th running of the New York City Marathon. Tomoaki Kato, MD, MBA, FACS, stretched with nervous...

The first step to ensuring your facility’s instruments are properly cleaned and sterilized is grasping the importance of the tasks and appreciating the hardworking staff...

Approach greening your facility as a strong and steady tortoise would, rather than a hare sprinting out of the box. “Build a strong foundation,” says Kaeleigh Sheehan,...

We’re almost two years into the pandemic and by now the revamped infection prevention protocols you rushed to implement in order to keep your doors open must...

At the height of the pandemic last year, Paras Barnett, BSN, RN, HNB-BC, CMSRN, a nurse at Stanford Health Care in San Jose, Calif., knew her colleagues needed a way to...

Surgical professionals are growing more interested in finding ways to eliminate opioids from the post-op pain management equation and the stakes have never been higher....

Several years ago, a 96-year-old woman who was experiencing severe chest pain came to see me. She could no longer eat and explained that — for 40 years! — she had been...

Cataract surgery outcomes are consistently good, but are they good enough to guarantee? They are if Uday Devgan, MD, FACS, is manning the microscope. In the rare...

Getting operating rooms ready for the first case of the day and cleaning the spaces between cases demands plenty of teamwork, coordination and hard work. You can use...

I know from personal experience that if you drop a three-liter canister of solidified fluid waste onto an OR floor, it’s a nightmare to mop up. It’s like cleaning spilled Jell-O....

It feels good to go above and beyond for someone just to see them smile. That’s the reasoning behind Vance Thompson Vision’s secret service initiative, which allows anyone on the staff to spend up to $100 on a patient...

It can be difficult to keep busy employees present — physically and mentally — during staff meetings. That’s why leadership at Heartland Surgery Center in Kearney, Neb., offers three separate gift card drawings...

Patients who underwent surgery at Hunterdon Center for Surgery in Flemington, N.J., used to store their street clothes in non descript plastic bags. But then leadership saw an opportunity to improve on the practice...

Leadership at Orthopaedic Associates of Michigan (OAM) at Midtowne in Grand Rapids wanted a better way to communicate with staff in the event of an emergency. In March 2020, the facility started using the GroupMe app,...

December is a natural time to look back at all you accomplished over the past 12 months. One of the advantages of working for a magazine is the tangible evidence each issue provides. It’s all there in black and white,...

Three federal judges have temporarily blocked CMS’ proposed COVID-19 vaccine mandate for healthcare workers that was set to take effect on Jan. 4, making an already murky situation for surgical professionals...

The Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN) has released an updated guideline on preventing unintentionally retained surgical items (RSIs) that includes the recommendation to use technology to locate...

A patient of mine who had undergone previous spine surgeries came to me complaining of hip and back pain. He wasn’t in a position to have another surgery on his back any time soon, so I focused on treating...

I’m a nurse with more than 30 years of OR experience who has undergone my fair share of surgeries. Recently, an elective procedure mishap resulted in four subsequent surgeries over the course of five months...

Healthmark Industries now offers X-ray vests and aprons made with a nylon fabric and equipped with lead-free material as part of its line of Cool Aids personal cooling products. The weight of the garments is evenly...

I’m feeling festive for the first time in forever. My Christmas tree went up the day after Halloween this year. That’s how excited I am for the holiday season. Granted, it’s an artificial one — not my standard farm-fresh six-footer...