A patient with a multidrug-resistant infection is coming to your OR. That patient will travel from her room—one of the most contaminated areas of the hospital—to surgery, which is perhaps the cleanest. How can her caregivers avoid cross-contamination that could transmit the infection to others? At 219-bed St Patrick Hospital…

Read More

OR managers have many opportunities to improve the lives of their patients. They meet with staff to review scheduling policies and infection prevention procedures. They may sit on committees to help select new supplies and equipment. The physical work environment, however, is usually a given. The operating room may have…

Read More

Medtronic caused a stir in February 2011 when it canceled several contracts with the 2 largest group purchasing organizations (GPOs), Novation and Premier. The big device company ended 5 Novation contracts worth $2 billion covering spinal implants, neurosurgery power tools, bone graft materials, and cardiac rhythm management products plus a…

Read More

Imaging has a long history in the operating room. In the 1960s, x-ray units were mounted on the ceiling, as they might be today. But the surgeon had to go to an adjacent room to view the image, and images could only be stored for 10 minutes. Mobile C-arms, introduced…

Read More

"Building hybrid rooms is building for the future," says Nicholas D. Troeleman, RNFA, director of perioperative services at the University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC), Baltimore. "Having hybrid rooms in a research setting like the University of Maryland gives physician researchers the ability to develop new techniques and build on…

Read More

Adverse events in hospitals are even more common than thought—and more common than the usual reporting methods uncover. A new study finds an adverse event happens in more than a third (33.2%) of hospital admissions. Many happen in the OR. Surgery was the second most frequent type of adverse event…

Read More

Anew risk calculator allows surgeons to model and predict the risk of complications for individual patients after bariatric surgery, a new study reports. Available free online, the risk calculator will aid in surgical decision making and help patients better prepare for their surgery by understanding the true risks and benefits,…

Read More

Ambulatory surgery center (ASC) staff, like their hospital colleagues, are battling health care-acquired infections (HAIs), but there's a twist: Most of the newest regulations shaping ASC infection control programs are coming from state legislators, not federal officials. So far, 9 states have passed laws requiring ASCs to report infections related…

Read More

A column on managing the OR revenue cycle. How to charge for OR time and services is a frequent source of questions from OR directors and business managers. In this column, Keith Siddel, MBA, answers questions about charging posed by members of the OR Business Management Listserv. Siddel is CEO…

Read More