CMS expands social determinants of health screening to outpatient settings
Editor's Note The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is expanding its social determinants of health (SDoH) initiatives to include outpatient settings, starting with voluntary reporting in 2025 and moving to mandatory reporting in 2026, MedLearn Publishing August 26 reports. This expansion aims to address gaps in care by…
Origami-inspired brain implants hold promise for Epilepsy surgery
Editor's Note Human trials may begin soon on patients in the UK using tiny, folding brain implants that could improve epilepsy surgery, according to an article published August 12 in The Telegraph. Developed by scientists at Oxford and Cambridge, who published their research in the journal Nature Communications, the implants…
Surveyed nurses more satisfied with electronic health records, but concerns remain
Editor's Note Reliability and response times remain electronic health record (EHR) headaches for nurses despite an increase in overall satisfaction with the systems, Beckerโs Health IT August 20 reports.ย The data is from an August report from KLAS Research based on insights from the Arch Collaborative EHR Experience Survey, which…
Staffing solutions depend on collaborative, innovative culture
There is no shortage of advice, opinions, and proposed solutions when it comes to staff shortages, but the issue continues to plague healthcare systems nonetheless. For a couple of years now, speakers at the OR Business Management Conference and OR Manager Conference have been asking attendees, โWho still struggles to…
Anesthesia workforce challenges taking center stage
Every year, OR Manager shines a light on staffing issues via the Salary/Career Survey. In this issue, two articles take a careful look at the career and profile of the perioperative leader in both inpatient and outpatient settings. Next month, two more articles will do the same with salary trends…
Water quality: 5 Ws and an H for sterile processing pros
Asking who, what, why, when, where, and howโotherwise known as the โ5 Ws and an Hโโ is a time-tested way for writers and researchers to ensure comprehensive coverage of any topic. Here, we apply this framework from the perspective of sterile processing department (SPD) professionals seeking to start a water…
Offsite sterilization fuels onsite efficiency for lean ASCs
For many in the healthcare industry, imagining surgery without onsite sterile processing seems unthinkable. Then again, performing total joints in an ambulatory surgery center (ASC) was unthinkable 10 years ago. ASC sterile processing departments (SPDs) are generally not designed to handle the high volumes of instrument trays, vendor trays, and…
How perioperative staff can combat human traffickingโPart 1
Human trafficking (HT) is a global public health crisis and one of the fastest growing criminal enterprises that grosses hundreds of billions of dollars annually, all of which are tax-free profits made off the sale of human cargo. And yet, research shows the problem is poorly understood or recognized among…
Survey: Staffing woes ease slightly, but challenges remain
Takeaways โข Surgical volume continues to increase for most organizations. โข Staffing remains a challenge, although some parameters, such as recruiting and turnover, have improved slightly. โข Filling an open RN position takes an average of 77 days, and filling a surgical technologist position takes an average of 120 days.…
Pilot project takeoff proves promise of AI staff optimization
Perioperative leaders face mounting pressures to optimize resources, reduce costs, and improve patient outcomes. However, one challenge stands out among the rest: OR staffing shortages. According to a November/December survey conducted by LeanTaaS in collaboration with OR Manager, staff recruitment and retention is a top priority for OR leaders this…