Preventing SSIs: Keys to solutions lie with your front-line clinicians
How will a surgical site infection (SSI) develop in the next patient who has colorectal surgery? What can we do to prevent it? These 2 questions helped a team at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore to identify 6 interventions that achieved a 33% reduction in SSIs after colon operations. The…
December Publisher's note
How did OR Manager get started? We had an idea and worked to make it happen. This is the story of a small group of 5 women who have built OR Manager over the past 28 years. They include, besides myself (Ellie Schrader), Pat Patterson, Judy Dahle, MS, MSG, RN;…
In reducing complications, plan on less revenue
One would think that reducing surgical complications would lower a hospital’s costs in addition to being the right thing to do. But the hospital’s bottom line can be seriously affected. The loss can be substantial unless new surgical volume is added to make up for the loss, a new analysis…
Who will replace retiring perioperative nurses?
Perioperative leaders are actively planning for future staffing needs. Still, the majority (56%) say they’re having problems filling staff nurse positions. And two-thirds (68%) anticipate problems in the next 5 years, according to OR Manager’s succession planning survey (related article). Nurse leaders in surgery accept the need “to grow their…
Succession: Making the case for OR management
First article in a 2-part series. Management should be the job people aspire to, says John Olmstead, MBS, RN, CNOR, FACHE, director of surgical services and emergency department at The Community Hospital in Munster, Indiana. “In too many hospitals, it’s the hot potato. People say, ‘I wouldn’t want to…
OR leaders celebrate the 25th annual conference
Attendance set a new record high, and excitement filled Caesars Palace in Las Vegas as perioperative nurse leaders gathered to celebrate 25 years of the OR Manager Conference held October 24 to 26, 2012. At the silver anniversary event, 1242 attendees discussed posters with their presenters, networked with colleagues and…
Surgery centers zero in on savings on supply costs
While the nation concentrates on the consumer implications of health care reform, ambulatory surgery centers (ASC) are examining its provisions for clues to the impact it will have on their operations and revenue. One likely outcome is that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) will transform their supply…
A surgeon blasts dangerous care, calls for ’transparency revolution’
Does your OR have a Hodad, a Raptor, or a Shrek? These are handles for dangerous surgeons that Martin Makary, MD, MPH, describes in his scathing new book, Unaccountable. Dr Makary, a surgeon and patient safety leader at Johns Hopkins, advocates a “transparency revolution” to make data public and motivate…
Free Daily News
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- Save the date for the 2025 OR Business Management Conference
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- Hospital financial report predicts stability, high cybersecurity costs for 2025
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- FDA Class 1 recalls target anesthesia workstations, ambulatory infusion pumps, ventilators
- Five leadership lessons from an ASC CEO
Career Center
- Director of Nursing, Behavioral Health - Signet Health Corporation - Coos Bay, OR
- Academic Trauma & Acute Care Surgeon, Worcester, MA - UMass Memorial Health - Worcester, MA
- Vascular Surgery Physician - Fairfield Medical Center - Lancaster, OH
- Orthopedic Surgery PA - Lahey Hospital & Medical Center - Exeter, NH