Medicare to collect infection data
For the first time, all hospitals will have to report data on infections to receive their full payment update from Medicare in future years. Data will be collected on 2 types of infection: central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI) starting January 1, 2011, for a full payment update in 2013 surgical…
Scanner detects lost OR instruments
Earnest Peachy, a perioperative tech, and Shandlee Woodward, a student nurse intern, are removing a trash bag from the scanner. Safety checklists are not the only concept the operating room has gleaned from aviation. Ten years ago, the 26-room OR suite at the Ohio State University (OSU) Medical Center in…
Longer talks aid informed consent
Surgical patients who take part in a longer discussion of informed consent—15 to 30 minutes—understand their proposed operation better than those who have shorter discussions, according to a report in the June 2010 Journal of the American College of Surgeons. Asking patients to repeat back their understanding of the procedure…
Time to do away with 12-hour shifts?
Evidence indicates extended work hours are a hazard to patients as well as to nurses. Now two nursing professors who have studied nurses' working conditions call for alternatives to 12-hour shifts and urge the profession to rethink their extensive use. "Nurses often prefer working a bunch of 12-hour shifts and…
Twelve-hour shifts: Is it time to look for a better alternative?
In this issue: A nursing professor challenges nurse leaders to seek alternatives to 12-hour shifts, page 15. Read results of OR Manager's online survey on 12-hour shifts, page 17. Twelve-hour shifts are popular. Many nurses like working 3 12-hour days and having 4 days off. The extended shifts also help…
Breakthroughs on wrong-site surgery
Wrong-site surgery is a stubborn problem across the country. Rhode Island Hospital in Providence has used its well-publicized experience with wrong-site surgery to dissect the process and learn how to prevent these events. The 719-bed hospital, which performs about 25,500 surgical procedures a year, has had 3 wrong-site surgeries in…
What comes next for SCIP measures?
As the Surgical Care Improvement Project (SCIP) reaches its fifth anniversary, a large new study shows mixed results for the SCIP measures. There's also discussion about what comes next. That could include action by the Joint Commission to weave hospitals' performance on SCIP core measures into the accreditation process. SCIP,…
Team agreement competition boost record for on-time starts
Third in a series on OR performance. With health care reform looming and the financial picture for hospitals uncertain, perioperative leaders know senior executives will look to the OR as a major source of revenue. That's likely to increase pressure to improve OR performance. Starting cases on time in the…
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