The need for registered nurses nationwide is expected to grow 7% by 2029 to 3.3 million workers, according to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, which projects 175,900 openings for new nurses each year. Filling those openings is an increasing challenge for perioperative nurse leaders. The annual OR Manager Salary/Career…

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The ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic run deep in the nursing profession. As one respondent to the 2021 OR Manager Salary/Career Survey noted: “[The pandemic has] caused healthcare workers to rethink the reason they went into this profession. Also the fact that we could die doing our jobs.” Part of…

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Staff turnover and open positions have increased in ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) during the past year, according to the 2021 OR Manager Salary/Career Survey, indicating the continuing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. About half (49%) of ASC leaders reported increased RN turnover (more than double the 24% in 2020), and…

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Editor's Note This international multicenter study led by UK researchers finds that the first wave of COVID-19 significantly impacted surgical patients in peak months—directly by comorbid infections and indirectly by increasing mortality, irrespective of COVID-19 status. In this analysis of 3,176 emergency adult surgical patients from 18 countries (between March…

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Editor's Note This study finds that 11.3% of COVID-19 patients in the UK caught the infection while in the hospital during the first wave of the pandemic, and this proportion increased to at least 15.8% by May 2020. Of 82,624 patients admitted to 314 hospitals before August 1, 2020, between…

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Editor's Note The American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) and Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation (APSF) on August 4 updated their guidance for perioperative testing for COVID-19 to say that all patients having anesthetics or surgical procedures with the potential to generate aerosols should have preoperative testing for COVID-19, regardless of their…

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Editor's Note This new study by the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health which drew on surveys of more than 149,000 people in 144 countries finds that trust in governments and healthcare workers is correlated with trust in health or medical advice from them and with more positive attitudes toward…

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Editor's Note In this retrospective cohort study, researchers from Montefiore Medical Center and Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York, found that healthcare workers (HCWs) with COVID-19 who were not hospitalized, still had prolonged illness. Of 1,698 HCWs--who were away from work because of COVID-19, who had a positive…

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Editor's Note The number of COVID-19 cases in the US totaled 36,008,398 on August 10, and deaths reached 617,892, according to the Johns Hopkins University of Medicine Coronavirus Resource Center. At the beginning of the week, the US recorded nearly 175,000 new COVID-19 cases and 645 deaths in 1 day.…

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Editor's Note This study by researchers with the University of Birmingham, England-led COVIDSurg-GlobalSurg Collaboratives (global partnerships of more than 15,000 surgeons) finds that patients who isolate before their surgical procedures to protect themselves from COVID-19 have a higher risk of postoperative pulmonary complications than those who don’t isolate. Researchers analyzed…

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