Each year at the OR Business Management Conference, an outstanding leader receives the Best in OR Business Award. The 2019 award will be presented to Tracy Raymond, MHA, BHA, CRCST, CHL, perioperative services business manager at Amita Health Saint Joseph Medical Center (formerly Presence Saint Joseph), a 480-bed hospital in…
The United States is amid a conversion to a value-based system of healthcare. Although this new delivery model has contributed to the closure of some hospitals and the realignment of others into larger health systems, the primacy of the OR as a source of revenue for hospitals has remained constant.…
Editor's Note An annual poll from Gallup found nurses rated the highest among professions in the US for their honesty and ethical standards for the 17th straight year. A total of 84% of respondents rated the honesty and ethical standards of nurses as “very high” or “high.” Physicians came in…
A greater focus on cost cutting and improving quality of care, a rise in outpatient procedures, and increased demand for cost and quality transparency were among the major healthcare trends projected for 2018. It’s safe to say these will continue to dominate in 2019 and beyond. A year ago, all…
Editor's Note Improvements in hospital work environments, nurse staffing, and educational levels of nurses coincided with improvements in patient safety and quality of care in this panel study from Linda Aiken, PhD, RN, and colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, Philadelphia. Using data from a panel of…
Polls leading up to the midterm elections put healthcare as the top issue of concern among likely voters, with gun policy, Supreme Court nominees, the economy and jobs, and education right behind it. In a year fraught with an ever-widening chasm along party lines, there were distinctly different priorities among…
Interest in the OR Business Management Conference has grown steadily in tandem with the number of proposals submitted each year. More than 400 individuals attended the conference in 2018, and they left with tools and strategies to implement in a variety of clinical settings upon their return. Feedback from attendees…
Editor's Note A nurse’s ability to provide optimal patient care is influenced by a variety of factors, not just nurse to patient ratios, this study finds. In this study of 136 neonatal intensive care nurses caring for 418 infants during 332 12-hour shifts, subjective workload was the one variable that…
Editor's Note Every year, Perioperative Nurse Week focuses attention on the work of more than 160,000 nurses who advocate for surgical patients. During the week, perioperative nurses are honored by colleagues and communities to highlight the ways in which nurses are working to improve patient safety−before, during, and after surgery−in…
Editor's Note In this study, nurses with bachelor’s degrees were found to be significantly better prepared than nurses with associate degrees in 5 of 16 test topics between 2007 and 2008, and in 12 of 16 topics between 2014 and 2015. Researchers tested the quality and safety educational preparedness differences…