Joint Commission: Revised requirements address doors, inhaled anesthetics
Editor's Note The Joint Commission on March 14 announced that three revised requirements across the Life Safety (LS) and Environment of Care (EC) chapters went into effect March 11. The revisions are: LS.02.01.30, element of performance (EP) 13, is designed to maintain alignment with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid…
Float pool supplements OR staff schedule, satisfaction
A perioperative staffing schedule that meets coverage needs during high- and low-volume times and satisfies the demand for better work-life balance can be difficult to achieve. To help meet these challenges in its 50-room OR, the perioperative services department at Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, designed a perioperative float…
ORBMC 2018 arms business leaders with best practices
San Antonio, Texas, played host to the 2018 OR Business Management Conference (ORBMC), attended by more than 400 surgical services leaders, business managers, and industry leaders from across the US. Attendees chose from a menu of topics—including strategies to increase case volume, efficiency, and data transparency, right-size the OR, and…
Editorial
Mixed signals about the direction of healthcare reform, payment models, and policy decisions have characterized much of the past year. Given the number of highprofile personnel changes in the Trump Administration, the lack of continuity isn’t surprising. In recent days, however, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has…
Instrument handling in the OR shines after SPD training
Improving teamwork between OR and sterile processing department (SPD) staff is an obvious way to increase the safety and efficiency of surgical procedures, but getting everyone on the same page can be challenging. Often the staff have limited understanding of what takes place in each respective department. Firsthand observation has…
Pledge makes positive culture a priority in the OR--Part 2
One of the most misunderstood and misused management buzzwords is “empowerment.” It is a noble thought that a manager can empower an employee, but only you can empower yourself, and once you have done that, no one can take that power away from you. Trying to empower someone who looks…
Management pearls position ASCs for successful growth
The rapid growth in outpatient procedures presents exciting opportunities for leaders at ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs), but also the challenge of accommodating a higher volume and more specialties without sacrificing efficiency and patient safety. That’s why it’s important not to lose sight of the fundamentals in managing an ASC, whether…
Readmissions, outcomes after perioperative AMI
Editor's Note In patients having noncardiac surgery who develop a perioperative acute myocardial infarction (AMI), about one in three died in-hospital or were readmitted within 30 days of discharge, finds this study presented March 10 at the 2018 American College of Cardiology Annual Scientific Session. Among more than 3 million…
AHRQ helps promote Patient Safety Awareness Week
Editor's Note The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) is working with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement/National Patient Safety Foundation and sister Health and Human Services agencies to promote a wide variety of information and activities for Patient Safety Awareness Week March 11 to March 17. The annual…
Reductions in LOS not linked to greater use of postacute care facilities
Editor's Note Reductions in hospital length of stay (LOS) for surgical procedures between 2008 and 2014, were not linked to a greater use of postacute care facilities in this study. Researchers studied the relationship between decreased LOS and postacute care using summary measures from the US National Inpatient Sample with…