Use of personal mobile devices is pervasive in surgery departments. As in the rest of life, they bring benefits but also risks, OR Manager found in an online survey. An overwhelming majority of respondents—86%—say they believe personal use of mobile devices in the OR sometimes distracts providers from patient care.…

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A 20-year-old nursing student, Emily, was excited to be on her pediatrics rotation and taking care of Tommy, a 3-year-old leukemia patient. One day, when Tommy’s mom was out of the room, Emily asked Tommy if she could take his picture. He readily agreed. When she got home, Emily excitedly…

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Health care reform, the comic book. Why didn’t someone think of this a long time ago? The new book, Health Reform: What It Is, Why It’s Necessary, How It Works (Hill & Wang 2012), tells the story of this complicated legislation in pictures with nary a table or chart. Drawn…

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What connects you with your purpose? How do you find that spark that rekindles your passion for nursing? And how can you reignite that spark in your staff?   With humor and stories, Rich Bluni, RN, LHRM, leads off the OR Manager Conference with his talk, Inspired Leadership: Reconnecting with…

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Nurses texting between—or even during—cases. Anesthesia providers playing games on their cell phones. A surgeon answering calls during surgery using his Bluetooth device. Mobile devices like smartphones and tablets have introduced a brand of constant communication—and a management challenge. Banning the devices isn’t the answer. Instead, health care needs to…

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When its instrument repair contract was up for review last year, the University of Virginia (UVA) Medical Center decided to look at the bigger picture. Rather than evaluating vendors solely on price, it looked for a company that was willing to partner in meeting its goals. The evaluation of 6…

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Here is some advice from experts on a program to ensure clean, functioning instruments.   Take a proactive approach Sharp, well maintained instruments are critical to patient safety, surgeon satisfaction, and smooth OR case flow. Kerrison rongeurs, for example, “should punch cleanly, not rip, tear, or pull,” says Rick Schultz,…

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Since the days of the first rudimentary radiographs, radiation safety has been a concern in the OR, but that concern has risen as the number of hybrid ORs and procedures with imaging has risen. “The level of image guidance in the OR, whether it’s radiographic or fluoroscopy, has become highly…

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A large Chicago-area health system has built a clearer, more robust process for resolving any discrepancies in the surgical consent prior to the day of surgery. Consent discrepancies are a risk factor for wrong-site surgery. “We realized that by the time the patient arrives in the surgery area, it is…

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What’s on the Joint Commission’s list of problem standards? The top 10 scored standards didn’t change much in 2011. Five of the top 10 are Environment of Care/Life Safety issues. Here’s a look at the trouble spots as identified at the Joint Commission’s executive briefing in late 2011.   Medical…

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Surgical teams received more ammunition in their quest to avoid wrong-site surgery when the Joint Commission’s Center for Transforming Healthcare issued its latest set of guidelines, called the Targeted Solutions Tool (TST). Released February 14, 2012, the TST is available free to Joint Commission-accredited hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs).…

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A new resource has emerged to help ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) manage the proliferating requirements they face in achieving and demonstrating performance. It is the quality council. “Another meeting?” one might ask. “Another task that does not include hands-on patient care?” Actually, a well-run quality council can save time, ensure…

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