A new publication by the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) zeros in on the role of outpatient care facilities in responding to disasters—specifically, how they can prevent infection in their patients, staff, and the community at large. The guide, “Infection Prevention for Ambulatory Care Centers During…

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Much work needed to make hospitals highly reliable To achieve a goal of zero patient harm, hospitals must adopt lessons from high-risk industries, finds a Joint Commission report. The authors say hospital leadership must • commit to the goal of zero patient harm rather than viewing it as unrealistic •…

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OR directors and managers in hospitals are experiencing stability in their income and in patient volume, according to the 23rd annual OR Manager Salary/Career Survey. Average annual salary in 2013 was $120,000, unchanged from 2012. The average annual raise increased slightly, from 2.8% last year to 3.3% in 2013, but…

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Surgery is a stressful time not only for patients but also for their families. Using a surgical liaison to communicate the status of an operation to those in the waiting area has boosted the satisfaction of patients, families, and surgeons, say perioperative directors whose hospitals have these positions. The liaison…

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Despite increasingly stiff penalties, health care-associated infections persist. Total annual costs for the 5 major health care-associated infections are $9.8 billion, say researchers led by Eyal Zimlichman, MD, of the Center for Patient Safety Research and Practice at Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston. Surgical site infections rack up about…

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Robotic surgery has been widely adopted by hospitals during the past decade, but its safety is still unclear because of a haphazard system for reporting complications, Johns Hopkins researchers say. A new study led by Martin Makary, MD, finds that of 1 million robotic procedures performed since 2000, only 245…

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In response to an open-ended question about what they considered their greatest accomplishments of the past year, OR directors and managers cited numerous examples. Their answers have been grouped into the categories listed below, which are arranged roughly according to how often most survey respondents cited advances in these categories.…

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OR Business Performance is a series intended to help OR managers and directors improve the success of their business.   Data-rich dashboards are an effective way to communicate with surgeons and align them with OR goals, but many reporting strategies have not kept pace with changes in the surgery market.…

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