Even in patients actively warmed with forced air during surgery, hypothermia is routine during the first hour of anesthesia, a new study finds. Intraoperative core hypothermia causes complications such as coagulopathy, surgical site infections, and possibly myocardial complications. It also decreases drug metabolism, prolongs recovery, and causes thermal discomfort. Warming…

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Medical device manufacturers have taken the first step in complying with the 7-year unique device identification (UDI) process mandated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The UDI system establishes a consistent way to label and track medical devices from production to use, and is intended to improve patient safety…

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Providing dependably excellent care for all patients all of the time is the essence of high reliability healthcare, as defined by the Joint Commission in its 2013 report. Two large health systems—Kaiser Permanente and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital—are on the path to becoming highly reliable organizations. In recent years, improved processes…

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Turnover time is a major concern for OR leaders. We surveyed OR Manager readers last year to identify the business and efficiency issues they want to know more about. Reducing turnover times ranked second, just under cost control. Extended turnovers clearly affect labor costs, but they also have a strong…

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Using the right type of water for instrument reprocessing can prolong the life of medical instrumentation, contribute to effective function, and—most importantly—minimize the risk of adverse patient outcomes from contamination. The water quality requirement for various stages of instrument reprocessing depends on the type of instrument and the disinfection or…

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The decision to add a new procedure in an ambulatory surgery center (ASC) is a matter of weighing risks and opportunities. A long list of variables must be analyzed and compared. Is the prospect of higher profit worth the investment that will be required in staff and equipment? Is our…

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Studies have estimated the incidence of retained surgical items (RSIs) as one in 5,500 to one in 6,975 cases. In October 2013, The Joint Commission issued a Sentinel Event Alert on RSIs, and periodic reports in the media have raised the public’s awareness of this persistent problem. Effective policies, reliable…

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As the anesthesiologist places the mask on the little girl’s face, the circulating nurse snaps a photograph and sends it to her parents’ cell phone with a caption saying, “she is safely off to sleep.” The nurse continues to send photographs and videos of the girl’s heart procedure along with…

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