- Ensuring a comparable standard of care for cesarean deliveries
- How could ORs benefit from the government’s health IT funds?
- Automation ends preop paper chase
- Endo reprocessing lapses at the VA
- Are you ready for Joint Commission?
- GPO purchasing of implants lags
- Economy is taking a toll on ASCs
- Automation for ASCs picking up speed
Ensuring a comparable standard of care for cesarean deliveries
Your facility is having a baby boom. The number of cesarean births is exceeding the obstetrical unit's capacity. Administrators want the OR to perform the overflow cases. What plans do you make for patient safety and care of both mother and newborn? The cesarean birth rate has risen by more…
How could ORs benefit from the government's health IT funds?
The federal government is providing $19 billion in grants and loans for health information technology (IT). Will ORs be able to capture some of the funding to improve their systems? The funding comes under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act signed by President Obama in February 2009. Financial incentives will…
Automation ends preop paper chase
Preparing patients for the day of surgery can mean chasing faxes and other documents that are easily misplaced. Missing information can lead to surgical delays and cancellations, not to mention frustrated physicians and staff. If ever a process was ripe for automation, this is it. With the government's funding for…
Endo reprocessing lapses at the VA
Follow the published manufacturer's instructions—that message is being hammered home once again following errors in the setup and reprocessing of endoscopy equipment at 3 Veterans Affairs (VA) facilities. The errors involved use of a wrong connector and failure to follow reprocessing instructions for tubing, according to the VA. The incidents…
Are you ready for Joint Commission?
What is needed to be ready for a Joint Commission survey with regard to sterilization practices, both now and in the future? Experiences with recent surveys were shared by 20 operating room managers with responsibility for the OR and sterile processing department (SPD) at an all-day session on sterilization at…
GPO purchasing of implants lags
On average, hospitals purchase 73% of their materials through group purchasing organizations (GPOs), with a wide range from 30% to 90%. But fewer—19% —purchase expensive orthopedic implants through GPO contracts, a new survey finds. Eugene S. Schneller, PhD, a business professor at Arizona State University, Tempe, and a supply chain…
Economy is taking a toll on ASCs
The economy is taking its toll on ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) and other outpatient facilities. In all, 60% of ambulatory care organizations in a new survey have seen demand for their services fall over the past 12 months. For 11%, the decline was 20% or more. About one-fourth (27%) have…
Automation for ASCs picking up speed
Electronic commerce, slow to come to hospitals, has been even slower to reach ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs). Part of the reason is that large, distributor-hosted ordering systems were impractical for small clients such as ASCs. Even most Internet-based systems, now in common use, were designed for high-volume transactions. That is…
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