Editor's Note Education about human trafficking is lacking in pre-licensure undergraduate nursing curricula, according to an October 2023 study in Nurse Education Today. Most victims see a healthcare provider at some point during their trafficking, yet remain unidentified, researchers write. The more than 4 million nurses in the US are…

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Editor's Note Ensuring regular recognition and check-ins with team members is an effective strategy for nurse leaders hoping to reduce staff turnover, according to a press release published April 3 by the American Organization for Nursing Leadership (AONL). Presented earlier this month at AONL’s annual conference, the inaugural edition of…

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Editor's Note How does your experience compare to that of your fellow perioperative leaders? The 2024 Salary/Career Survey is your chance to find out—and to contribute to the education of the broader community. We’ve published an article on a decade's worth of data from the annual survey in every issue…

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Editor's Note If you’d like the opportunity to share process improvement initiatives, best practices, or in-depth case studies of what perioperative success looks like, now’s the time to start planning. The program committee for the OR Business Management Conference is now accepting abstract proposals for presentations at the 2025 event,…

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Editor's Note Penn Medicine has made significant strides in reducing the environmental footprint of the OR through department- and team-level initiatives, according to a March 29 report in Penn Medicine news. Driven by CIRCE: Medicine, a faculty group consisting of providers from Penn Medicine and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, examples…

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Approximately one in 31 hospital patients has at least one infection on any given day, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In surgical settings, the risk is even higher, with up to 7% of patients developing an infection during surgery. These infections can lead to a…

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TAKEAWAYS • HR should be involved early in the disciplinary process to help guide OR leaders’ decision-making throughout disciplinary and/or remediatoin processes. • Timing, privacy, opportunities for employee feedback, and an empathetic approach are among the most important considerations for a final termination meeting. • Whatever the process for communicating…

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Left sniffling and sneezing after a whirlwind 4 days at my first AORN Global Surgical Conference and Expo in Nashville, Tennessee, I had more on my mind than whether the term “conference-acquired infection (CAI)” was officially part of the medical nomenclature, much less whether any studies had been done. I…

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Editor's Note Reducing surgeon manipulation of electronic health record (EHR) OR scheduling systems can improve efficiency, save resources, and enhance service to patients, according to data published in the March/April issue of the Journal of Healthcare Management. Although predictive models using EHR and machine learning improve accuracy compared to traditional…

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Editor's Note The collapse of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge last Tuesday morning could impact the shipment of medical supplies, according to healthcare leaders quoted in a March 17 report in Chief Healthcare Executive. “Currently, any healthcare provider using a distributor in the area will likely face some impact, including…

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