Lack of surgical checklist compliance suggests need to improve implementation
Surgical checklist compliance among 4 Canadian hospitals was around 60% in a large, retrospective study of acute care operations performed in 2010 and 2011. Although Alberta Health Services in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, had mandated checklist use starting in 2009, limitations such as instructional misuse, lack of perceived benefit, and lack…
Potential process improvements captured through web-based survey
How to identify the most common problems that occur in the OR and then find ways to prevent them is a trick most OR leaders would love to learn. A solution that shows some promise is a web-based debriefing questionnaire, judging by the experience of a multidisciplinary safety team at…
South Carolina models high reliability standards through pilot program
The South Carolina Hospital Association (SCHA) and the Joint Commission Center for Transforming Healthcare have teamed up to make the state’s healthcare highly reliable. In a joint project titled “South Carolina Safe Care Commitment,” 21 hospitals in South Carolina are learning about high reliability practices (chart, p 12). High reliability…
Editorial
Early indications are that the South Carolina Safe Care Commitment project, though still in its infancy, holds promise for increasing the reliability of healthcare in that state (cover story). Certainly the progress made thus far supports the framework put forth by the Joint Commission in 2013 to help all healthcare…
Surgical team familiarity reduces operative time, improves performance
Surgical team familiarity contributes to reductions in operative time, and performance improves as team experience accumulates, a new study finds. Previous studies of teamwork and its influence on surgical outcomes have been limited by the challenge of objectively quantifying teamwork. Survey-based methodologies are subject to responder bias, and the tools…
Targeted Solutions Tool helps banish communication barriers during surgery
Process and communication concerns led OR management at the University of Florida Health Shands Hospital, Gainesville, to implement a Surgical Safety Process using the Joint Commission Center for Transforming Healthcare’s Targeted Solutions Tool (TST) for Wrong Site Surgery. “When we reviewed our patient safety reports, what came to the surface…
Collaboration and creative thinking hold down the number of OR holds
Putting a hold on the OR can lead to revenue losses no manager wants to see. At Lehigh Valley Health Network (LVHN) in Allentown, Pennsylvania, OR holds were averaging 1,100 minutes per month. Jodi Koch, BSN, RN, director of perioperative services, and Kathleen Duckworth, RN, CPAN, their colleagues got holds…
Using Lean strategies to improve operating room efficiency
Improvements in first case on-time starts and turnover time at Lancaster General Hospital in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, attest to the success of using Lean strategies. Within an 8-month period, first-case on-time starts (FCOTS) jumped from 35% to 72%, and the monthly average overall turnover time (TOT) for a 7-month period was…
Partnering with your CEO will put you on the path to success
Maintaining a strong relationship with the hospital CEO has always been important for an OR leader. In the coming year, good relations with the executive suite will be critical. Hospital executives are under greater pressure now than at any time in the last 30 years. Changes in the healthcare market…
Use of refined protocols reduces pressure ulcer rates
Each year, 2.5 million people in the US develop pressure ulcers, according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). Surgical patients are at especially high risk because of immobility during long procedures and anesthesia that blocks sensitivity to pain and pressure. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid estimates…
Free Daily News
- Physician opinions on generative artificial intelligence reverse course, trend positive
- National hospital safety rankings reflect infection prevention, patient experience improvements
- Healthcare employment up in April
- HCA Healthcare reports solid first-quarter financials
- Per-person healthcare spending grows nearly 19% in 5 years
- OR Manager Conference: Lowest rates expire in one week
- Hospitals boost cybersecurity budgets, staff
- Kentucky passes first-ever state law decriminalizing medical mistakes
- Kaiser Permanente data breach affects 13.4 million
- Study explores link between diverticulitis and colorectal cancer