Editor's Note OR Manager sat down with Jessica Gruendler, DNP, senior director of nursing, perioperative services at Dignity Health in San Francisco, California, to shed light on the topic she will be presenting at the 2023 OR Manager Conference in Nashville, TN, this September. Gruendler will present her session, “Profitability…

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Editor's Note In this study, researchers from the University of California, San Francisco, examine the feasibility of transitioning back to reusable surgical gowns and the corresponding cost savings and reductions in solid waste. Disposable surgical gowns were replaced with polyester reusable surgical gowns with AAMI level III barrier protection that…

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Editor's Note The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) announced that it is seeking proposals through September 7 to help fund and develop cybersecurity technologies for healthcare systems, clinics, and healthcare-related devices,  the August 17 WIRED reports. The Digital Health Security…

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Takeaways • Many tools for measuring productivity do not reflect the complexity of the perioperative setting. • Multidisciplinary teams can help establish productivity metrics and tools. • Productivity measures vary across the perioperative continuum. For most perioperative leaders, discussions about productivity do not top the list of enjoyable parts of…

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OR leaders face numerous challenges in managing high patient volumes and complex procedures, as well as in maintaining staff morale. To meet these demands, many ORs have turned to nurse travelers for temporary staffing support. With the addition of nurse travelers, the responsibilities of OR leaders increase, putting them at…

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The surgical department often deals with challenges like underused block time, inefficient scheduling, limited data, and unpredictable demand. They also struggle to match staff skills to service needs. LeanTaaS and its software help to tackle these issues by using lean principles, predictive analytics, and machine learning. The LeanTaaS solutions are…

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ASC leaders continue to see increased surgical volumes but are finding it difficult to staff their centers, according to the 2023 OR Manager Salary/Career Survey. More than half (56%) of respondents reported increased volume in the past 12 months, the same as last year. Yet the ability to recruit new…

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Ambulatory is the term the industry is “stuck with” because that is the name the founders came up with in 1970, says David Shapiro, MD, CASC, CPHRM, LHR, an anesthesiologist with extensive experience in ambulatory surgery management and a member of the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC) board.…

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Editor's Note In an August 14 interview with HealthLeaders Media, David Benton, PhD, RN, RGN, FRCN, FAAN, CEO of the National Council of State Boards of Nursing, says artificial intelligence (AI) has important roles in training nursing students, balancing nurse workloads, and managing patient care, which ultimately helps reduce stress…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission, on August 15, issued “Sentinel Event Alert 67: Preserving patient safety after a cyberattack.” The Alert focuses on risks associated with cyberattacks and provides recommendations on how healthcare organizations can deliver safe patient care if a cyberattack occurs. Actions suggested by The Joint Commission include:…

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