Pandemic raises OR nurse recruitment, management challenges
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to wreak havoc on OR managers’ lives, according to the 2020 annual OR Manager Salary/Career Survey. Many new developments related to the pandemic have occurred and continue to evolve since the spring and early summer, when the survey was deployed. However, the concerns stated by many…
Editorial
Surges in COVID-19 cases across the US have kept communities in a perpetual first wave for much of 2020. While the virus continues unabated and researchers focus on vaccine development, the timing and impact of the second wave are unknown. Amid so much uncertainty, one thing is clear: The virus…
ASC staffing and surgical volume drop in response to pandemic
Nearly a third (30%) of ambulatory surgery center (ASC) leaders have experienced layoffs of direct care staff during the past year, according to the 2020 annual OR Manager Salary/Career Survey, up from a mere 4% in 2019. COVID-19 is the likely culprit: Most of the comments received in response to…
Study: COVID-19, diagnosed as flu and spread more extensively, earlier than reported
Editor's Note The spread of COVID-19 in Seattle and Wuhan, China, which coincided with the influenza season, was far more extensive than initially reported, and the virus had likely been spreading for several weeks before official records indicate, this study from the University of Texas at Austin finds. Researchers examined…
CDC: 7-day moving average of COVID-19 cases drops below 50K
Editor's Note The 7-day moving average of new COVID-19 cases in the US, a key metric for gauging the severity of the disease, dropped below 50,000 on August 18 for the first time since early July, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports. On August 19, the CDC…
Impact of COVID-19 on psychosocial care of cancer patients
Editor's Note The psychosocial needs of cancer patients are not being adequately met because of the disruption in services caused by COVID-19, this study from the UK finds. Researchers from six universities surveyed 94 psychosocial oncology professionals and identified a number of concerns, including: The suspension of face-to-face delivery of…
Joint Commission removing position statement on preventing nosocomial COVID-19 infections
Editor's Note The Joint Commission announced August 19 that it is removing its position statement: "Preventing Nosocomial COVID-19 Infections as Organizations Resume Regular Care Delivery.” The guidance was written in May when COVID-19 cases in the US were declining, healthcare organizations were working to resume elective procedures and ambulatory care,…
Public health implications of chronic hospital nurse understaffing in COVID-19 era
Editor's Note This study by noted nurse researcher Linda Aiken, PhD, RN, FAAN, and colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, Philadelphia, finds that hospital nurses were burned out and working in understaffed conditions in the weeks preceding the COVID-19 pandemic, posing risks to the public’s health. The…
CMS will resume routine inspections of all providers, suppliers
Editor's Note The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced August 17 that it will resume routine inspections of all Medicare and Medicaid certified providers and suppliers. CMS suspended certain routine inspections as part of its response to the COVID-19 pandemic to prioritize infection control and immediate jeopardy situations…
COVID-19 linked to dangerous lower extremity arterial thrombosis
Editor's Note This study from researchers at the Montefiore Medical Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York, finds that COVID-19 is associated with large blood clots in the lower extremities and a significantly higher rate of amputation and death. In March and April 2020, 16 COVID-19-positive patients had…
Free Daily News
- Study: COVID-19's impact on oncological surgery offers lessons for future crises
- Study links pandemic stress to persistent increases in nursing-sensitive quality indicators
- Save the date for the 2025 OR Business Management Conference
- Study: Education, exercise improve knee OA with or without prior surgery
- Study: Early surgery outperforms endoscopy for long-term pancreatitis
- Study: Blood thinner, NSAID combination raises bleeding risk
- Hospital financial report predicts stability, high cybersecurity costs for 2025
- IV fluid shortage drives innovation in hospital hydration practices
- FDA Class 1 recalls target anesthesia workstations, ambulatory infusion pumps, ventilators
- Five leadership lessons from an ASC CEO