Surgeons often complain that their physician preference cards (PPCs) are not current, and keeping on top of the situation can be a struggle. Yet having accurate information on these cards greatly enhances both efficiency and patient safety, say surgical services leaders who have overhauled their systems. In this article, experts…

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Even the most experienced OR leaders often view physician preference cards (PPCs) as a beast that acts out and demands attention at the most inconvenient times. Two organizations that have managed to tame the PPC beast shared their experiences with OR Manager. Updating cards saves more than $3.2 million Tresa…

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Theoretical advantages exist for both block and nonblock scheduling. Facilities with enough space and staff may be able to schedule cases on the basis of patient and surgeon convenience, but that doesn’t work for facilities with less flexibility. At our facility, problems associated with first-come, first-served booking led to an…

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High reliability has now permeated the healthcare literature, but some clinicians are still unsure exactly what it means. A simple definition offered by Coleen Smith, MBA, RN, CPHQ, director of High Reliability Initiatives for the Joint Commission Center for Transforming Healthcare, is “excellence in patient care for every patient, every…

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Editor's Note Implementation of a surgical safety checklist was associated with a statistically significant 27% reduction in 90-day all cause postoperative mortality, while 30-day mortality remained unchanged in this study. The checklist was also associated with a reduction in length of stay but not 30-day readmission rates. This is the…

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Editor's Note Two home visits by a physician assistant (PA) in the week after discharge significantly reduced the chance that a cardiac surgery patient would be readmitted, finds this study presented January 26 at the annual meeting of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons. Of 1,185 patients analyzed, those who received…

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Emergencies such as the one described above don’t happen frequently in the OR, but it is important to prepare for them, and simulation has emerged as an ideal educational tool. This scenario took place in a simulation lab, not a real OR, so the danger to the “patient” (manikin) consisted…

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Editor's Note This large-scale initiative, led by researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, to implement surgical safety checklists in 13 South Carolina hospitals was associated with improved staff perceptions of perioperative safety. Included were improved staff perceptions of: mutual respect clinical leadership assertiveness on behalf of safety…

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Editor's Note Select hospital characteristics are associated with readmissions after major surgical procedures, this study finds. After adjusting for patient factors, rural location was predictive of readmission after colectomy. Low-volume and minority-serving hospitals were associated with greater odds of readmission after total joint arthroplasties. Because financial penalties may worsen performance…

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Editor's Note Participation in the American College of Surgeons, National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP) is associated with a reduction in postoperative adverse events, and the magnitude of quality improvement increases with time in the program, this study finds. Hospitals in the ACS NSQIP program for at least 3…

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