Editor's Note The use of long-sleeved disposable OR jackets as recommended by AORN is not associated with reductions in surgical site infections (SSIs) and presents a fiscal burden, this study finds. In this analysis of 60,009 patients in 12 hospitals in a large multicenter health organization during a 55 month…

Read More

Editor's Note Though recent guidelines mandating additional barrier attire for all scrubbed and unscrubbed OR personnel from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and Joint Commission, which include bouffant caps covering all hair and long-sleeved surgical attire covering all exposed skin, this study finds that this mandate does…

Read More

Editor's Note The debate over surgical cap attire has grown from a patient-safety issue to a platform for emotionally driven arguments, unflattering logic, and failed leadership by all parties involved, according to this Viewpoint article in JAMA Surgery. The 2014 guidelines from AORN never explicitly endorsed the bouffant hair cover,…

Read More

Editor's Note Educating anesthesia providers on the World Health Organization’s five indications for hand hygiene, increasing access to hand hygiene products in the OR, and monitoring  hand hygiene among anesthesia providers can improve hand hygiene compliance, this study finds. Hand hygiene was observed in three phases: Preimplementation, postimplementation, and 60…

Read More

Editor's Note The risk of hand contamination was higher when healthcare workers (HCWs) removed their gloves before their gowns during personal protective equipment (PPE) doffing, and HCWs who made multiple PPE doffing errors were more likely to have contaminated clothes after patient interactions, this study finds. In this analysis of…

Read More

Surgical site infections are multifactorial, and perioperative leaders often struggle with how to reduce or eliminate them. In 2013, after an unexplained increase in surgical site infections (SSIs) among patients undergoing total hip arthroplasty at our facility, we began to investigate the cause. A fairly robust ERAS (enhanced recovery after…

Read More

Editor's Note Provider attire is a potential source of pathogenic bacterial transmission in healthcare settings, this review study finds. A total of 22 articles were included in this analysis, which found that provider attire was commonly colonized by multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs), with white coats laundered less frequently than scrubs. The…

Read More

Editor's Note Implementation of AORN’s 2015 guidelines for OR attire, which also were adopted by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, has not decreased surgical site infections (SSIs) and has increased healthcare costs, this study finds. For the study, data were collected on general, cardiac, neuro-, orthopaedic, and gynecologic…

Read More

Editor's Note To reduce contamination of the surgeon in the OR, the two-person gowning technique must be highly monitored, or the single-person gowning technique should be used, finds this study from the department of orthopedic surgery and rehabilitation at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City. For the…

Read More

Editor's Note Pierced earring holes can be a source of healthcare associated infections (HAIs) via cross-transmission of bacteria from the holes to nurses’ fingers, this study finds. For this analysis, earlobes and fingers of 200 nurses (128 with pierced ears and 72 unpierced) working at a university hospital in Japan…

Read More