Informal, specific praise motivates employees
Editor's Note Encouraging words are more appreciated when they are informal and specific in their praise, reports the May 15 Fast Company online. A few ways for managers to put this into practice include: Showing appreciation for an idea not just in meetings but during impromptu interactions, like corridor conversations.…
Working overtime associated with less collaboration between nurses and physicians
Editor's Note In this study, working overtime negatively influenced nurse-nurse and nurse-physician collaboration. Survey data from 24,013 nurses in 957 units from 168 hospitals in the National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators showed that one third of nurses work beyond their scheduled shifts. One hour of overtime was associated with…
New communication bundle reduces unplanned ICU admissions
Editor's Note Unplanned admissions of medical-surgical patients to intensive care units (ICUs) dropped after a New Hampshire Medical Center implemented a new early warning score communication bundle, this study finds. The hospital embedded a seven-item modified early-warning score system into the electronic medical record (EMR) for patients in its four…
Health literacy linked to postop recovery in outpatients
Editor's Note Inadequate functional health literacy (FHL) in ambulatory surgery patients was associated with poorer postoperative recovery and a lower quality of life in this study. Of 704 patients undergoing ambulatory surgery who were surveyed, 427 (60.7%) reported sufficient FHL, 223 (31.7%) said problematic FHL, and 54 (7.7%) had inadequate…
What do 'patient first' care models look like?
Creating a positive patient experience creates patient satisfaction, which can affect reimbursement. But it’s not just business that calls many OR leaders to focus on patient experience. Having been a patient who has had surgery, it’s near and dear to my heart,” says Carol Pehotsky, DNP, RN, NEA-BC, ACNS-BC, CPAN,…
Bullying: From conflict to confrontation to civility in the OR--Part 3
When Carol Schneider, MSN, RN, CCRN, CPAN, became manager of a postanesthesia care unit (PACU) at Boston Medical Center in Massachusetts, she found a plethora of problems, including poor communication skills, low employee engagement scores, and bullying from surgeons and staff. “It was a very bad climate that was putting…
Editorial
Creating a more harmonious work environment is a struggle for some OR leaders. Tips on how to achieve this were offered during the 2017 OR Manager Conference and the 2018 OR Business Management Conference (ORBMC), and we share some of these in the March issue. A dysfunctional atmosphere in the…
Storytelling can make or break staff morale
Disengagement costs organizations money through lost productivity, not to mention the risk of errors that a disengaged workforce brings. Yet in August 2017, Gallup reported that only 32% of people are engaged at work. Much of disengagement can be traced to what Cy Wakeman, president and founder of Reality-Based Leadership,…
Pledge makes positive culture a priority in the OR--Part 1
An organization’s culture is shaped by the collective attitudes and behaviors of the people who work there, and if no one is willing to make personal changes, no program of the month is likely to have a lasting impact. To change their attitudes and behaviors, people must be made aware…
Total joint cases on firm footing after OR team huddles
Effective use of a daily huddle and customized software for scheduling have had a dramatic impact on efficiency at NYU Langone Orthopedic Hospital in New York City. Cancellations on the day of surgery have dropped from a rate of about 10% prior to implementation of huddles to less than 1%,…
Free Daily News
- Study: Excessive nurse overtime, agency staffing harm patients
- Commentary: Technology no substitute for cadaver-based medical education
- Study: Early-stage breast cancer surgery may not be necessary after chemo, radiation
- Experimental brain implant translates thoughts to speech
- Nurses deem flexible, transparent scheduling key to satisfaction, retention
- OR Manager 2025 Career/Salary Survey offers opportunities to learn, give back
- The Joint Commission revises volume criteria for cardiac, stroke certifications
- Pulse oximetry monitoring at home found to save lives of high-risk opioid surgery patients
- New data suggest same-day discharge is safe for joint replacement patients with atrial fibrillation
- FBI investigates as Oracle health data breach exposes patient information