Editor's Note Security issues have prompted the Food and Drug Administration to extend the deadline from September 24 to October 24, 2015, for filing required data and labeling information for the Unique Device Identification system (UDI). The extension applies to implantable life-supporting and life-sustaining devices as well as Class III…
Editor's Note After the Florida Senate blocked a bill this year to let patients stay overnight at ASCs, the House likely will renew the debate in 2016, Health News Florida reports. The issue has been part of a collection of proposals that House Republican leaders say would provide more choices…
Editor's Note The US Senate on August 5 passed the Electronic Health Fairness Act of 2015 (S 1347), which was heavily promoted by the Ambulatory Surgery Center Association. The legislation protects physicians practicing in ASCs from Medicare meaningful use penalties until a certified electronic health record technology is available for…
Editor's Note Work-hour restrictions for surgical resident, revised nationally 4 years ago to protect patients against fatigue-related errors, have not had the desired effect of lowering postoperative complication rates, according to this new study. Researchers from the American College of Surgeons found no significant difference in surgical outcomes between 1…
It is hard to have tea with a friend or brag about a school soccer victory without involving social media. What was once a private or family matter no longer seems real until it is texted, posted, or even turned into a movie. Healthcare organizations, including ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs),…
Adverse events occur in the best of ORs, but, of course, the goal is to prevent them whenever possible. One strategy used in surgical services at Saint Luke’s Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri, is to turn staff into “legal eagles” who go beyond reporting adverse events after they occur to…
Walk into any patient care unit—whether preoperative, intraoperative, or postoperative—and you will hear numerous alarm signals. Some are signaling a medical necessity, but many are false alarm noises that do not require action. Health care workers can hear several hundred alarm signals per patient per day, which may cause alarm…
Ambulatory surgery patients who become incapacitated should have their wishes for care honored, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) stresses in its new guidelines. Previously, the guidelines permitted an ambulatory surgery center (ASC), for reasons of conscience or policy, to refuse to honor advance directives calling for cessation…
AORN leaders’ efforts over the past few years have led to evidence-rated recommendations for some of the 2013 Perioperative Standards and Recommended Practices (RPs), representing “landmark progress in the evolution of recommended practices,” according to Ramona Conner, MSN, RN, CNOR, manager of the standards and recommended practices. Conner introduced speakers…
A large Chicago-area health system has built a clearer, more robust process for resolving any discrepancies in the surgical consent prior to the day of surgery. Consent discrepancies are a risk factor for wrong-site surgery. “We realized that by the time the patient arrives in the surgery area, it is…