Leadership The US Food and Drug Administration receives more than 100,000 medication-related reports, and some of them, according to the AORN Journal, “involve patient death.” AORN’s 2024 updated guidelines include safety updates for perioperative staff when handling, transporting, and administering medication, which can be a complex process prone to errors. In…
In every OR, the complicated dance of surgical care coordination—the series of handoffs between stakeholders throughout the surgery lifecycle—is performed mainly in the background. Those stakeholders include physician offices, schedulers, preadmission testing, insurance verification, vendors, sterile processing, supply chain, anesthesia, and surgical staff. But what does it look like when…
Takeaways • Perioperative business managers can make significant contributions to a hospital’s financial health, but more than half of hospitals do not have this role. • Business managers’ earnings have increased in the past 5 years, while the number of direct reports has risen slightly. • The bachelor’s degree has…
Nursing is not a career path for the faint of heart. However, working in places wracked by civil strife and natural catastrophes can strain the composure of the most elite in any specialty. If the OR tent lifting away in strong post-hurricane winds stateside is not bad enough, imagine having…
Takeaways • VA and Navy hospitals are subject to many of the same requirements as their civilian counterparts, including adherence to quality and infection control standards as well as regulations from organizations such as AORN. • Rank structure plays a significant role in forming and leading OR teams at Navy…
Silver Spring, MD, January 8, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The American Nurses Foundation (the Foundation) has launched Count Me In, a national campaign with a clarion call to join nurses in reshaping health care through the power of nursing. Count Me In supports the nurse-led Reimagining Nursing Initiative, which is leveraging the innovation, ingenuity,…
Staff recruitment and retention is the top priority of OR leaders going into 2024, according to a November/December survey conducted by LeanTaaS in collaboration with OR Manager. Out of 84 respondents (some skipped), while 76% chose staff recruitment and retention, both improving operational efficiency (65%) and sustaining volume (36%) also…
Takeaways • The Joint Commission eliminated 56 redundant or outdated Elements of Performance, revised four others, and is using more checklists. • The Joint Commission is emphasizing healthcare equity and identifies it as a priority to address healthcare quality and safety, calling organizations to integrate health equity into their QAPI…
Takeaways • Failure to understand the complexity of the work performed in the sterile processing department (SPD) can lead to staff shortages, errors, and significant financial loss. • Strategies for addressing SPD staffing include effective orientation, certification, competency assessment, analyzing staffing needs, and leader visibility. • SPD schedules should reflect…
Kim Rosencrans, RN, BSN, has worked as a surgical nurse in a number of successively more senior roles over the past 20 plus years—and she has retained a hands-on approach, even as an OR manager in the Surgery Department at Trinity Health in North Dakota, one of the nation’s largest…
