Editor's Note The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has issued an action guide for active shooter incidents specifically for hospitals and healthcare facilities. The action guide includes potential indicators of an individual who may become an active shooter. It also gives recommendations for staff on what they should do if…

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Nearly 40 “awareness” or prevention and education wellness initiatives are listed for the month of May—among them, National Nurses Week, World Hand Hygiene Day, and Mental Health Month. Mental health caught my eye because it was a featured topic at the World Healthcare Congress in Washington, DC, where a panel…

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Perioperative services departments have been slow to adopt the black boxes used in the aviation industry, partly because it can take a large team of experts hours to analyze data collected by the box. However, the team behind a surgical black box is using artificial intelligence (AI) to significantly cut…

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Violence is a fact of life in healthcare settings. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration estimates that, on average, healthcare workers are four times as likely to be victimized as those in private industry. Most types of violent incidents involve patients or visitors acting out against staff, accounting for 93%…

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Several never events at The Medical Center of Aurora (TMCA) in Aurora, Colorado, over a 1-year period prompted leaders there to launch patient safety first (PSF) initiatives. Part 1 of this series discussed how these initiatives were identified and implemented, and the importance of evidence-based communication tools (OR Manager, March…

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Editor's Note Organizational support initiatives and authentic leadership training for nurse leaders reduced bullying among licensed practical nurses (LPNs) in this study. A survey was sent to a random sample of 855 LPNs that was drawn from a total of 4,306 in a Midwestern state; 168 usable questionnaires were returned…

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Editor's Note This study from the University of Texas El Paso School of Nursing finds that students who were exposed to a higher number of adverse childhood experiences (eg, abuse, neglect, family dysfunction) had higher levels of burnout and depression. A survey of 211 students enrolled in the first semester…

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In this issue’s 2018 OR Manager Salary/Career survey results, just over two-thirds of respondents report overall job satisfaction, but some see the lack of staff and support from superiors as chief gaps in what OR managers need to be successful (cover story). The relatively high job satisfaction rate is encouraging,…

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Editor's Note Physician burnout was linked to a higher risk of patient safety incidents, lower patient satisfaction, and poorer care in this study. This meta-analysis of 47 studies involving more than 40,000 physicians, found that physician burnout was associated with double the odds for involvement in patient safety incidents and…

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Editor's Note Just as it was with Boomers, empowerment is a popular desire among Millennials, but organizations need to know they can’t just talk about empowerment as they did in the past, they actually have to empower Millennials, according to Steve Keating in the August 30 LeadToday.com. Millennials aren’t fooled…

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