Session: Keep calm and recover—Essential service recovery tools for new OR leaders

Editor's Note

Transparent communication, humility, and swift action are essential for effective service recovery in perioperative services, said Leiran Cornish, MBA-HM, BSN, RN, director of nursing, Dartmouth Health Outpatient Surgery Center, and Patrel Nobles, MSN, RN, NE-BC, CNOR,  system senior director, surgical services, Valley Health. Their session explored how nurse leaders can turn adverse events and service failures into opportunities to rebuild trust with patients, families, and staff alike.

“Some people came to us earlier and asked, ‘What is service recover?’” Patrel said, adding that she was worried the room would be empty because the concept seemed to be somewhat foreign. Cornish then defined service recovery as “the process of identifying, addressing, and rectifying service failures to restore satisfaction among patients, families, and staff.” Beyond fixing problems, she said, recovery “goes to the heart of trust,” which is the foundation of every healthcare relationship. Similarly to emergency preparedness processes, for service recovery, perioperative leaders must anticipate failure points and prepare recovery plans before crises occur.

Both speakers shared real-world examples: power outages, floods, network failures, and misplaced surgical implants that disrupted care. Nobles described an incident in which a patient’s breast reconstruction was canceled due to missing implants. The team met the patient and her husband face-to-face to apologize and explain. “It was about transparency—naming the failure, owning it, and rebuilding the plan together,” she said.

The experience highlighted the three “rules” of recovery:

1. Do it right the first time.
2. Fix it properly if it fails.
3. Recognize that you rarely get a third chance to regain patient trust.

Service breakdowns in perioperative care often fall into two categories:

• Administrative failures, such as scheduling or billing errors.
• Clinical failures, including misdiagnoses, lost specimens, or incomplete case readiness.

Both can damage trust if not addressed swiftly. Effective leaders, Cornish said, “don’t wait for surveys to tell them something went wrong. They create a culture where their teams speak up.”

The presenters urged attendees to create nonpunitive reporting systems and celebrate transparency. Cornish’s organization uses “OWLs” (Opportunities With Learning) to capture near misses and good catches. “If people aren’t reporting, you should be worried,” she said. “It means they’re afraid.” Trust, they emphasized, erodes quickly when leaders fail to communicate. Even a single service lapse can ripple into community perception.

When a failure occurs, leaders should:

• Acknowledge the issue immediately. Silence damages confidence.
• Apologize sincerely. Authentic empathy cannot be scripted.
• Offer solutions and follow-through. Ensure patients and staff see action and improvement.

Leaders must also regulate their own emotions before engaging, they said. Cornish encouraged grounding techniques: “Take a deep breath, feel your feet on the floor, and remind yourself: I’ve got this.” When faced with an upset surgeon or family, she advised presence, honesty, and calm. “Don’t hide in your office,” she said. “Your team watches how you respond.”

Recovery is not complete without patient participation. The speakers recommended involving patients in deciding next steps, setting follow-up timelines, and offering options rather than rigid directives. Empowering frontline staff with service recovery training and scripts ensures smaller issues such as parking or communication delays are handled before escalation. Plus, organizations should evaluate recovery effectiveness through patient feedback, staff engagement, and key metrics like complaint resolution times and satisfaction scores. Continuous improvement depends on feedback loops, regular retraining, and system updates to prevent repeat failures.

“Service recovery isn’t about perfection, it’s about integrity,” Nobles said. When things go wrong, our response defines us.”