Editor's Note This national survey of surgical residents found that needlesticks occur frequently, many events are not reported, and numerous reporting barriers exist. Of 7,395 respondents from all 260 general surgery residency programs, 27.7% noted experiencing a needlestick in the last 6 months. Most events occurred in the OR (77.5%)…

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Editor's Note In this study to discover the experiences of 10 nurse managers who transitioned from a staff nurse position, participants said they experienced role insufficiency because of a lack of support and resources. During the interviews, five themes were identified: expectations essential knowledge and skills graduate education prepared sought…

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OR leaders live with many challenges, ranging from obtaining adequate reimbursement to having sufficient staff on hand. Despite constant pressures, most respondents to the 2019 annual OR Manager Salary/Career Survey remain satisfied with their jobs. In all, 70% are satisfied with their current jobs or positions, comparable to the 67%…

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Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS®) is a comprehensive, multifaceted, and multidisciplinary approach to the care of the surgical patient. ERAS bundles evidence-based elements to facilitate a faster recovery with fewer complications.1 Spanning the continuum of perioperative care, ERAS elements include: • patient engagement and education • preoperative optimization of nutrition…

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A surprising 70% of respondents to the 2019 OR Manager Salary/Career Survey report overall satisfaction with their jobs—surprising in light of their significant workload, relatively flat salaries, number of staff vacancies, and industry-wide prevalence of clinician burnout. Burnout is defined as a state of physical or emotional exhaustion that also…

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Recruitment is a daunting part of any OR leader’s job because of the time it takes to identify and evaluate candidates, who must then complete an extensive orientation program once they are hired. Part 1 of this three-part series covered marketing and application strategies for achieving recruitment goals (OR Manager,…

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A patient’s condition can change in the blink of an eye. Are you prepared to respond? And what happens if the patient dies? This is the focus of an annual seminar at Houston Methodist Hospital that was developed to increase the comfort level of perioperative nurses caring for a patient…

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Hospital-acquired pressure injuries (HAPIs) fall under the care management serious event category, and the literature suggests the incidence of a pressure injury following surgery or a procedure may contribute to more than half of all hospital-related skin injuries. Furthermore, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has defined numerous…

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Editor's Note Though recent guidelines mandating additional barrier attire for all scrubbed and unscrubbed OR personnel from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and Joint Commission, which include bouffant caps covering all hair and long-sleeved surgical attire covering all exposed skin, this study finds that this mandate does…

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Salaries for ambulatory surgery center (ASC) leaders are down slightly, according to the OR Manager 2019 Salary/Career Survey, with slightly more than half of respondents (52%) earning $100,000 or more—a decline from 60% in 2018, 54% in 2017, and 53% in 2016. That dip may be contributing to corresponding lower…

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