OR Manager; Vol. 27 No. 9; September 2011 Economic conditions continue to challenge OR staffing. Though fewer OR directors and managers than in 2009 say they are reducing use of overtime and eliminating open positions, more than two-thirds (69%) say the economy did affect their staffing in the past 6…

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OR Manager; Vol. 27 No. 9; September 2011 Ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) continue to feel the grip of a weak economy, according to results from the 21st annual OR Manager Salary/Career Survey. They also face changes in the health care landscape, with more consolidation, reduced reimbursement, and more physicians becoming…

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OR Manager; Vol. 27 No. 9; September 2011 Why more BSN-prepared nurses are needed Though the causal relationship between RNs’ academic degrees and patient outcomes is not conclusive, according to the Future of Nursing report, several studies report a significant association between RN education and outcomes in acute care: At…

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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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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 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 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 A circulating nurse reports she called 3 times, asking a technical support assistant to bring a piece of equipment to the OR, but the equipment never arrived. Later, it’s learned the assistant didn’t know what the equipment was and was afraid to…

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OR Manager; Vol. 27 No. 9; September 2011 The government’s long-awaited plan for quality reporting by ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) was issued July 1, 2011. If the proposal is finalized later this fall, the time-line could be short. ASCs might need to have quality-reporting systems in place as early as…

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