Surgical patients who take part in a longer discussion of informed consent—15 to 30 minutes—understand their proposed operation better than those who have shorter discussions, according to a report in the June 2010 Journal of the American College of Surgeons. Asking patients to repeat back their understanding of the procedure…

Read More

Evidence indicates extended work hours are a hazard to patients as well as to nurses. Now two nursing professors who have studied nurses' working conditions call for alternatives to 12-hour shifts and urge the profession to rethink their extensive use. "Nurses often prefer working a bunch of 12-hour shifts and…

Read More

In this issue: A nursing professor challenges nurse leaders to seek alternatives to 12-hour shifts, page 15. Read results of OR Manager's online survey on 12-hour shifts, page 17. Twelve-hour shifts are popular. Many nurses like working 3 12-hour days and having 4 days off. The extended shifts also help…

Read More

Wrong-site surgery is a stubborn problem across the country. Rhode Island Hospital in Providence has used its well-publicized experience with wrong-site surgery to dissect the process and learn how to prevent these events. The 719-bed hospital, which performs about 25,500 surgical procedures a year, has had 3 wrong-site surgeries in…

Read More

As the Surgical Care Improvement Project (SCIP) reaches its fifth anniversary, a large new study shows mixed results for the SCIP measures. There's also discussion about what comes next. That could include action by the Joint Commission to weave hospitals' performance on SCIP core measures into the accreditation process. SCIP,…

Read More

Third in a series on OR performance. With health care reform looming and the financial picture for hospitals uncertain, perioperative leaders know senior executives will look to the OR as a major source of revenue. That's likely to increase pressure to improve OR performance. Starting cases on time in the…

Read More

Robotic surgical procedures *Includes cardiothoracic, general, and other urologic and gynecologic procedures. Source: ECRI Institute, 2008. Mention robotics in OR circles, and you're likely to spark a debate. Is robotic surgery an innovative technique with wide application or mainly a marketing ploy to attract patients? Or does the truth lie…

Read More

Like facilities around the country, you are probably considering alternatives to the Steris System 1 (SS1) for reprocessing your medical devices. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a notice in December 2009 stating that the SS1 as currently marketed had not been approved or cleared for its label claims,…

Read More