Surgical volume outpaces growth in nursing staff
The good news/bad news for OR leaders from the 2018 annual OR Manager Salary/Career Survey: Surgical volume continues to increase for many hospitals, but staff turnover and recruitment difficulties remain, creating challenges in meeting that increased volume. Another ongoing challenge is reimbursement changes; more than half of respondents report bundled…
ASC workforce stable amid rise in cases
Surgical volume in the past year increased for 40% of respondents to the 2018 annual OR Manager Salary/Career Survey, down slightly from the 48% reported in 2017. This result is intriguing in light of the proliferation of procedures now being performed in ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs). Does this suggest some…
Massachusetts will vote on nurse staffing limits in November
Editor's Note Massachusetts voters will decide in November whether to mandate nurse staffing limits in hospitals, the July 9 Boston Business Journal reports. The nurse staffing question, which is being spearheaded by the Massachusetts Nurses Association, will ask voters to establish patient-to-nurse limits in different areas of the hospital. Hospitals…
Editorial
By 2024, the demand for registered nurses in the US will top 1 million, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), with the largest gaps seen in hospitals in the South and West. The RN workforce is expected to grow 16%, from 2.7 million in 2014 to 3.2 million…
Getting a surgical nurse internship off the ground
The average age of OR nurses is over 50 years, and for the past several years, healthcare organizations have been trying to groom the next group of nurse leaders. Many have had success with perioperative nurse internships. As part of succession planning at Mercy Medical Center in Canton, Ohio, we…
Float pool supplements OR staff schedule, satisfaction
A perioperative staffing schedule that meets coverage needs during high- and low-volume times and satisfies the demand for better work-life balance can be difficult to achieve. To help meet these challenges in its 50-room OR, the perioperative services department at Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, designed a perioperative float…
Residency program expands ranks of experienced PACU nurses
Just as nursing schools don’t include the operating room in their curriculums, they also don’t include any instruction on the postanesthesia care unit (PACU). And like the OR, the PACU is having trouble recruiting new nurses. In September 2015, Houston Methodist Hospital began a PACU residency program to train new…
Nurse staffing levels tied to patient satisfaction
Editor's Note Patients’ satisfaction with hospital care is strongly associated with missed nursing care, which is related to poor nurse staffing and poor work environments, finds this study led by Linda H. Aiken, PhD, RN, director of the Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research at the University of Pennsylvania…
Editorial
The leadership gap expected to occur when Baby Boomers retire leaves many OR managers worried about succession planning. About 40% of respondents to the annual OR Manager Salary/Career Survey plan to retire between now and 2026. By 2020, about half of all nurses will be Millennials, according to the literature.…
Externships help suss out nurses best suited to the OR
Where will new OR nurses come from in the future? Some OR leaders are answering that question with nurse externship programs for students. Although they require an initial investment, these programs can ultimately pay off financially. Externs who decide to train for the OR tend to be happy with their…
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- Session: Hoisting the Sails—Winning Strategies for Growing Service Lines in an ASC
- Session: Riding the Wave—Considerations to Making Anesthesia Profitable in Today's Labor Market
- Session: Surfs Up—Rolling Out the OAS CAHPS Survey
- Montana legislators' prior authorization reform push mirrors national trends
- States push to expand nurse practice authority
- Oregon bill seeks to ban AI from using ‘nurse’ title amid patient safety concerns
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