Perioperative staff complete a thorough orientation to ease their transition into a new job, but what about surgeons? How are they onboarded into a new OR? This isn’t an academic question—effective onboarding is key to the success, including financial success, of the OR. “To have someone walk through the door…

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Editor's Note This database review of malpractice lawsuits against surgical residents highlights the importance of perioperative management, particularly among junior residents, and the importance of appropriate supervision by attending physicians as targets for education on litigation prevention. During a 10-year period, 87 malpractice cases involving surgical residents were identified. Results…

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Editor's Note In this study, a half-day faculty development course designed to equip surgical educators with frameworks shown to promote learning in the OR helped faculty members deliver improved instruction as perceived by surgical residents. A total of 19 faculty members completed the course. Associate professors demonstrated improved briefing, debriefing,…

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Editor's Note In this study using data from the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP), concurrent surgical procedures were not found to increase the risk for adverse outcomes. The analysis included 1,430 surgeons from 390 hospitals who performed 12,010 concurrent surgical procedures from 2014 to…

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Perioperative services that implement the TeamSTEPPS program—Team Strategies and Tools to Enhance Performance and Patient Safety—can see a range of benefits such as a better reporting culture, improved operational efficiency, and increased staff satisfaction, suggest emerging data presented in recent webinars and at a national conference. TeamSTEPPS was jointly developed…

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Editor's Note The Mayo Clinic is offering a 5-day surgery fellowship program for journalists, sponsored by the Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. Journalists will see the surgical process from preop to recovery, including time in the operating room, and they will receive an in-depth look at the latest…

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Each year, the OR Manager Conference showcases the latest hybrid OR technology along with expert advice from clinicians and manufacturers. The 2017 conference (October 2-4 in Orlando, Florida) will feature an extensive exhibit and opportunities to interact with the Hybrid OR Steering Committee members (sidebar, p 15): • Monday, 2…

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Leaders seeking competent staff for the OR are increasingly training their own. These internal programs, typically targeted toward both new graduates and nurses without previous OR experience, require planning, organization, and follow-through. “You need to integrate the didactic with the clinical setting,” says Ellen Lord, MS, RN, CNOR, a perioperative…

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Are there nursing characteristics such as certification status or educational attainment that impact surgical site infection rates? The answer to questions such as this may provide evidence of modifiable factors that could lessen surgical site infections (SSIs) and thus decrease the financial and emotional impact from these adverse events. The…

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Editor's Note In this study, major teaching hospital status was associated with lower mortality rates for common medical and surgical conditions, compared with nonteaching hospitals. The analysis of 21.4 million hospitalizations of Medicare patients at 4,483 hospitals (250 major teaching, 894 minor teaching, and 3,339 nonteaching) found that 30-day mortality…

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