OR Manager; Vol. 27 No. 9; September 2011 The Food and Drug Administration should replace its 35-year-old 510(k) process for medical devices, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) urges in a new report. The IOM finds the process is flawed as a means to screen devices for safety and efficacy before…

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OR Manager; Vol. 27 No. 9; September 2011 Have you faced any of these situations? You receive loaner instruments for a case the same morning the case is scheduled. You receive loaner instruments without cleaning/sterilization instructions for use (IFU). You receive loaner sets you have never seen before. Neither the…

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OR Manager; Vol. 27 No. 9; September 2011 Hiring RN new graduates for the OR was almost unheard of 15 years ago. Now 74% of OR directors and managers in the 2011 OR Manager Salary/Career Survey say they accept new grads and RNs without OR experience. To help ease the…

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OR Manager; Vol. 27 No. 9; September 2011 Nurse residency recommendation Recommendation 3: Implement nurse residency programs. State boards of nursing, accrediting bodies, the federal government, and health care organizations should take actions to support nurses’ completion of a transition-to-practice program (nurse residency) after they have completed a prelicen-sure or…

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Flexible endoscope reprocessing continues to be a major focus in infection prevention. All of the known cases of pathogen transmission during GI endoscopy have been traced to breaches in accepted cleaning and disinfection guidelines or other infection prevention practices. A revised Multisociety Guideline on Reprocessing Flexible GI Endoscopes, released in…

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OR Manager, Inc, is making an important transition in its successful history with its acquisition by Access Intelligence, LLC, and its Dorland Health Division as of January 2011. For 26 years, OR Manager, Inc, has provided information on management of the surgical suite through its monthly publication, conferences, webinars, and…

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The recession is bringing changes in OR staffing. Managers who have seen elective surgery fall are asking staff to reduce their hours and trying to avoid layoffs. Vacant positions, once hard to fill, are evaporating. Some veteran nurses are postponing retirement. Major elective procedures in orthopedics and spine could decline…

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You know meticulous instrument care and handling can reduce your GI endoscopy repair costs. But did you know that the organization and design of your GI unit can also affect your daily operations as well as your repair costs? Rethinking the layout of your setting is an opportunity to manage…

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Do your hospital disaster drills include natural disasters? What would you do if you lost electricity, steam, and water because of a flood, storm, or other disaster? Do you know about your hospital's physical plant and how it supports perioperative services? St Luke's Hospital in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, faced these…

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Of all the things that keep health care leaders awake at night, 3 stand out in these tough economic times—money, quality, and manpower. Surgical services leaders who understand these issues and can help their administration address them will be in a strong position to help their organizations survive. Connie Curran,…

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