AORN RPs generate lively discussion
Proposed revisions to AORN recommended practices (RPs) on surgical attire and prevention of unplanned retained items (formerly counts) generated lively discussion at the AORN Congress in March in Denver—as they are likely to do in ORs across the country. The proposals were open for public comment on the AORN website,…
Keynote: What would Florence do?
When did the health care crisis get to be a crisis? Was it last year with the capital crunch and reimbursement cutbacks? Was it the evolution of managed care and corporate medicine? Does it go back to when Medicare was established? What would Florence Nightingale say about the health care…
Total joints: Toward zero infections
The Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) in New York City has one of the highest volumes of total joint replacements in the world. It also has one of the lowest surgical site infection (SSI) rates. The hospital, which performs about 8,000 joint replacements a year, was recently commended by the…
What is the OR’s role in SSI surveillance?
Under the Joint Commission’s National Patient Safety Goal 07.05.01 on preventing surgical site infections (SSIs), organizations are required to measure their SSI rates. They also need to provide process and outcome measures, such as SSI rates, to key stakeholders; for example, surgeons and senior administrators. Perioperative nurses play an important…
Will skin-prep practice change following new study results?
Strong evidence from a new 6-hospital study could lead many ORs to change their traditional practice for surgical skin preparation. In the first prospective, randomized study to compare the effect of 2 skin prep agents on the incidence of surgical site infections (SSIs) after clean-contaminated surgery, a chlorhexidine (CHG)-alcohol product…
Preventing pressure ulcers: New lessons from Minnesota
New data from Minnesota hospitals offers more insight into preventing pressure ulcers during long surgical procedures. Data collected through the state’s adverse event reporting system in 2009 found 13% of the 122 Stage 3, Stage 4, and unstageable pressure ulcers reported were related to long surgical procedures. Attention to this…
What's the value of preop bathing?
Preoperative baths or showers to prevent surgical infections have played to mixed reviews. Enthusiasm was dampened after a systematic Cochrane review in 2006, updated in 2009, examined 7 trials and found no clear evidence of a benefit for bathing or showering with chlorhexidine gluconate (CHG) over a placebo. Preop bathing…
A Lean process for OR technology
With tighter budgets and long lists of technology requests, organizations need a fair and systematic way to set priorities. At Virginia Mason Medical Center (VMMC) in Seattle, where Lean manufacturing principles are part of the culture, it was natural to apply Lean to the review of new surgical supplies and…
Free Daily News
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Career Center
- Director- Clinical Operations, Operating Room, Riley Children's Hospital - Indiana University Health - Indianapolis, IN
- CARDIOTHORACIC SURGEON STANFORD MEDICINE - Stanford University, School of Medicine - Corvallis, OR
- PEDIATRIC CARDIAC SURGEON - Stanford University, School of Medicine - Honolulu, HI
- Tampa Vascular Surgeon - Vein ans Vascular Institute - Tampa, FL