Using sterile items in surgery is a fundamental practice, not a rudimentary one that can or should be taken for granted. Put simply, using unsterile items can result in a patient infection. If sterile storage conditions are not appropriate, the items can become contaminated. Such contamination may go undetected, rendering…

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A big question was circulating amongst the OR professionals at the AORN Global Surgical Conference floor this year: “How do we improve our miscount protocols?” It was clear that nurses and OR managers are looking for a better miscount management solution. Manual counting has been the standard in preventing retained…

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  Systems for managing electronic hospital records (EHR) are critical for recording, storing, and protecting patient data, but these systems fall short in situations where real-time data is needed, such as in the surgical department. Relying on time-consuming data entry by busy OR staff, EHR systems alone simply cannot capture…

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Takeaways One of the lessons learned when it comes to data was to make sure you do it right the first time. A big drive for standardization was to leverage the distribution center to send excess inventory that some sites had to sites that needed them. Another drive was the…

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Takeaways Rural hospital purchases by larger health systems should improve access to surgical treatment in remote areas, but some acquisitions have resulted in decreased care quality and reduced access to services, as shown by recent examples. Despite challenges, rural hospital acquisitions can lead to expanded services, enhanced perioperative support, and…

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Access to quality care in rural areas has been making headlines since the pandemic began. The issue of ensuring appropriate access to services in rural and community hospitals is not a new concern. But with the unprecedented number of shutdowns—not only of certain departments and service lines but also total…

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In April, the long-awaited results of the 2022 National Nursing Workforce Survey (Workforce Survey) were released. For researchers and academics with an interest in nursing workforce and professional development data, this report is a treasure trove of information as “the only continuous national, randomized survey of this size.” This version…

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While demand for OR services can be unpredictable, supply is largely fixed—well below the baseline for many hospitals and health systems. The ability to match supply and demand within perioperative services is critical to efficient ORs, as hospitals and health systems must operate with constrained staffing and anesthesia resources. On…

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