Editor's Note The Joint Commission has made nurse staffing a national benchmark for hospital accreditation, formally recognizing it as a core measure of patient safety and care quality, Nurse.org October 13 reports. For the first time, hospitals must meet specific staffing standards to earn or maintain accreditation. Under the new…

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Stress and burnout are more than workforce concerns; they are patient safety issues. Research shows a clear correlation between healthcare provider stress and medical errors. For instance, Zabin et al, a 2023 systematic review, confirmed that job stress negatively influences patient safety culture. Garcia & Abreu et al, a separate…

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Editor's Note The nursing shortage in California is deepening, with RN vacancies projected to grow from 3.7% in 2024 to 16.7% by 2033, HealthLeaders and KFF Health News October 8 report. The researchers cite inadequate training and retention pipelines, while nurses on the front lines say mismanagement, understaffing, and profit…

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Editor's Note This year, the OR Manager Conference promises playbooks attendees can put to work the day they return home. The event, being held in Anaheim on October 28–30, targets the system-level goals perioperative leaders are accountable for: capacity, cost, culture, and safety across multi-site enterprises. Attendees will get concrete…

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Editor's Note Training with surgical preference cards significantly lowers anxiety and strengthens clinical competence among OR nursing students, according to a randomized controlled trial published in BMC Medical Education on October 2. The study enrolled 60 OR nursing students in Iran between 2023 and 2024. Students were randomly assigned to…

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Editor's Note Hospitals adopting perioperative patient ambassadors are seeing major gains in surgical communication, patient trust, and satisfaction, AORN August 18 reports. An EIN Presswire release on September 30 also highlights AORN’s call for hospitals to formalize the patient ambassador role as part of the surgical team. AORN notes that…

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With the explosion of GLP-1–based therapies for type 2 diabetes and weight loss, perioperative nursing teams, especially in the preoperative and postanesthesia care areas, need to be fluent in recognizing these medications. Some patients may arrive on these agents—or even novel oral GLP-1s—and the physiologic effects, especially delayed gastric emptying,…

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Editor's Note Culture change in healthcare does not come from quick fixes or sweeping overhauls but from steady, intentional leadership, said transformational consultant Priscilla Myers on a September 10 article published by the Healthy Workforce Institute and authored by speaker, author, and consultant Renee Thompson DNP, RN, FAAN. Myers shared…

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Editor's Note Innovation is transforming surgical care faster than most institutions can keep pace, but leaders must distinguish between investments that advance patient care and those that add cost without meaningful benefit. That is the central message from a September 8 Harvard Medical School article featuring insights from Jon O.…

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Editor's Note Two of the nation’s largest health systems are reporting major progress in nurse retention after investing in structured residency programs, mentorship, and professional development. According to a September 10 article from the Catholic Health Association of the United States, CommonSpirit Health has boosted new nurse retention to 86%…

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