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…
Residency program expands ranks of experienced PACU nurses
Just as nursing schools don’t include the operating room in their curriculums, they also don’t include any instruction on the postanesthesia care unit (PACU). And like the OR, the PACU is having trouble recruiting new nurses. In September 2015, Houston Methodist Hospital began a PACU residency program to train new…
Bullying: From conflict to confrontation to civility in the OR--Part 3
When Carol Schneider, MSN, RN, CCRN, CPAN, became manager of a postanesthesia care unit (PACU) at Boston Medical Center in Massachusetts, she found a plethora of problems, including poor communication skills, low employee engagement scores, and bullying from surgeons and staff. “It was a very bad climate that was putting…
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Career Center
- Director of Nursing, Behavioral Health - Signet Health Corporation - Coos Bay, OR
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