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December 2015 See the full issue

Conference delivers insights, innovation, and inspiration

To paraphrase the popular Alan Jackson song “Gone Country,” more than 1,400 perioperative nurse leaders from across the US and from other countries “went country” by attending the 28th annual OR Manager Conference in Nashville, Tennessee, this past October. They were drawn to both the in-depth educational opportunity and the…

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By: OR Manager
November 18, 2015
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Specific care bundles successfully cut surgical site infection rates

Three new studies on reducing surgical site infections (SSIs) were reported at the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP) conference in July. Researchers at three different institutions identified several process changes that, once implemented, brought down SSI rates. Each study used different methodology, but all…

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By: Judith M. Mathias, MA, RN
November 18, 2015
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Editorial

Earlier this year, we published two articles about the emerging perioperative surgical home (PSH) model of care, and the topic was included in a panel session on innovative programs at this year’s OR Manager Conference. The basic concept of the PSH is to provide integrated patient-centered care from the time…

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By: Elizabeth Wood
November 18, 2015
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Escape the winter and expand your knowledge at the 2016 OR Business Management Conference

Business managers make up a relatively small percentage of perioperative services staff, but they play an increasingly important role in ensuring quality of patient care. That’s probably one reason for the growing popularity of the annual OR Business Management Conference, which will be held February 21-24, 2016, in Phoenix. The…

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By: Elizabeth Wood
November 18, 2015
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Build a strong anesthesia quality program to boost patient safety and the bottom line

Quality indicators for anesthesia For the past several years, physicians have participated in the Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS) established by Medicare as a way to assess the quality of patient care and tie that to reimbursement. Beginning in 2015, a negative payment adjustment hit individuals and group practices whose…

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By: OR Manager
November 18, 2015
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Vanderbilt's anesthesia QI program reduces adverse postoperative events

The anesthesia quality improvement program at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville can claim a variety of successes, notably less postoperative hypo- and hyper-glycemia and fewer wound infections. When anesthesia providers noticed they weren’t monitoring blood glucose in patients with diabetes as frequently as their own goals specified, they put…

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By: OR Manager
November 18, 2015
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Infection control noncompliance cited in high percentage of Joint Commission surveys

During the first half of 2015, the Joint Commission’s top “not compliant” survey citations stemmed from Infection Control IC.02.02.01, which relates to reducing the risk of infections associated with medical equipment, devices, and supplies. Surveyors cited critical access hospitals in 60% of the surveys, hospitals in 54%, and office-based surgery…

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By: OR Manager
November 18, 2015
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Disaster planning exercises prepare ASCs to care for patients and assist communities

Ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) are taking a new look at the question of disaster response. Staff are not always informed about what emergencies might occur, or what they should do in response to the most likely scenarios. Likewise, many local emergency management agencies are not even aware of the ASCs…

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By: Paula DeJohn
November 18, 2015
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