Editor's Note On Monday, August 22, Dr Anthony Fauci announced he will step down as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) at the National Institutes of Health and as chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden in December 2022. "While I am moving on from…

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Editor's Note In this study, researchers at NYC Health + Hospitals, New York City, evaluate how uptake of COVID-19 booster doses among fully vaccinated US adults varied by geographic location, occupation, and sociodemographic characteristics. Receipt of a booster was defined as taking two or more doses of COVID-19 vaccines with…

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Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on August 19 identified the recall by Medtronic of its Cobalt XT, Cobalt, and Crome Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillators (ICDs) and Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Defibrillators (CRT-Ds) as Class I, the most serious. The devices are being recalled because of reports of short circuit-protection…

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The good news from the 2022 OR Manager Salary/Career Survey is that in the wake of lessening disruption from COVID-19 throughout the country, surgical procedure volume has returned to many ORs, with nearly half of respondents (48%) reporting increased volume over the past year, double last year’s findings (26%). The…

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What if unprofessional behavior in the OR could be managed through something as simple as an informal chat over a cup of coffee? This peer-to-peer approach advocated by Vanderbilt University School of Medicine led to the development of two well-established, scientifically validated programs designed to offset unprofessional behavior: the Patient…

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Is there really a nursing shortage? “Is this a question or a statement?” asks Ruth P. Shumaker, BSN, RN, CNOR, executive director perioperative services, Regional One Health, Germantown, Tennessee. “It’s a little bit of both,” she answers. “Some of it has been self-made, and some of it is because we…

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Electronic health records (EHRs) have been decried as a drag on an organization’s efficiency and a source of frustration for clinicians and managers. Complaints related to documentation time, compatibility with other systems, and report generation are common. These shortcomings were reflected in the 2022 OR Manager Salary/Career Survey. More than…

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As organizations adapt to COVID-19 and the number of severe cases eases in many areas of the country, leaders in ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) are seeing a significant uptick in volume of surgical procedures, according to the 2022 OR Manager Salary/Career Survey. More than half (56%) reported increased volume in…

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Editor's Note On Wednesday, August 18, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Rochelle Walensky shared planned changes with CDC leadership and staff to “transform” the agency and its  culture, with the goal of "improving how the agency shares information, develops public health guidance, and communicates with the American…

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Editor's Note This study from Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, finds a severe decline in surgical procedure volumes across specialties during the peak of COVID-19, and after the peak and vaccine release periods, the overall volume did not fully recover. Of 129,956 surgical procedures analyzed during four…

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