Surgery
Engaging student nurses to prime the OR nurse pump: Part 1
Concerns about the pipeline of OR nurses existed long before COVID-19, but the pandemic has heightened these concerns. Many nurses plan to exit the profession in the next few years (sidebar, Workforce outlook). Unfortunately, the pipeline of replacement nurses is nearly dry as student experiences in the OR have been…
Association of COVID-19 with disparities in access to major surgery
Editor's Note This study, led by researchers from the University of Rochester (NY) School of Medicine, finds that the early response to the COVID-19 pandemic did not increase disparities in access to major surgical procedures. Of 3,470,905 adults hospitalized for major surgical procedures at 719 facilities between January 1, 2018,…
Downstream effects of COVID-19 generated surgical backlog
Editor's Note Delayed elective surgical procedures because of COVID-19 resulted in more emergency department (ED) visits and the need for urgent interventions for gallstone disease but not inguinal hernias, this Canadian study finds. Researchers identified 74,709 elective cholecystectomies and 60,038 elective inguinal hernia repairs. During COVID-19 first and second waves…
Tracking orientation, competencies, and skillsets in the OR—Military style
GENERAL Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy of the Department of Defense or the US Government. Developing OR nurses for the future is a goal of all OR managers. Orientation programs can vary depending on the…
The Joint Commission, AHA launch Comprehensive Heart Attack Center certification program
Editor's Note The Joint Commission and the American Heart Association, on April 20, announced the launch of a Comprehensive Heart Attack Center certification program, which recognizes hospitals providing care to the most complex and critically ill patients. To be certified, hospitals must provide 24-hours-a-day, 7-days-a-week on-site coverage for primary percutaneous…
New machine learning models predict adverse postop abdominal hernia surgery outcomes
Editor's Note Machine learning (ML) models designed by surgeons at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston show a high level of accuracy in predicting which types of patients are most likely to have a hernia recurrence or other complications after surgery in this study. Of 725…
Mayo Clinic gives postop patients comforts of home
Editor's Note The Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, is giving surgical patients an option to recover outside the hospital with comforts of home and with immediate access to a care team if needed. The Mayo Clinic program, called “Monitoring at Charter House,” allows physicians to arrange for US and international patients…
Impact of supply chain crisis on surgical services
What happens when global supply chains—which are already typically operated lean across the board—are hit with a once-in-a-century pandemic? An ongoing, collective lesson in economics. The problem is not hard to understand: COVID-19 shutdowns brought manufacturing to a near standstill, during which time the demand for goods increased, and now there…
Establishing service lines in ambulatory surgery centers
The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the healthcare industry could fill an entire academic curriculum at this point, let alone a single article. But one potential silver lining among the storms of bad news is the increasing migration of elective procedures from hospitals to ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs). Although…
Key items for cardiovascular, peripheral vascular service lines
Ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) are ramping up cardiovascular and peripheral vascular service lines, as Medicare offers payment for a growing number of cardiac procedures and accrediting bodies offer support for this methodology. In 2021, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission reported that the number of ASCs billing Medicare for cardiology procedures…
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