Elective surgical procedures that were temporarily suspended in mid-March are now on the table—or soon will be—at some US facilities. The ban, announced on March 18 by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), was enacted to free up resources for facilities overwhelmed by surges of COVID-19 patients. On…
Coronavirus cases in the US topped 1 million in late April. Although total numbers of cases and deaths change daily and vary greatly among urban vs rural regions of the country, it’s safe to say we haven’t yet seen the last of the surges. Despite ongoing shortages of personal protective…
OR nurses are being asked to serve in positions outside the operating room and experiencing changes in their schedules, and they are concerned about the uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. To support OR nurses during this time of crisis, AORN has been holding town hall Q&A webinars with infection preventionists,…
Traditional patient care challenges have risen to a whole new level in the wake of COVID-19. Healthcare providers have assumed new roles and performed tasks they never imagined doing. With conditions and expectations changing daily if not hourly, one thing that hasn’t changed is the need to provide safe patient…
Editor's Note This first preliminary description of outcomes in COVID-19 patients in the US between February 12 and March 16, 2020, indicates that fatalities were: 10% to 27% in patients aged 85 or more 3% to 11% in patients aged 65-84 years 1% to 3% in patients aged 55-64 years…
April OR Manager draws on some of the content presented at the 2020 OR Business Management Conference in January and the 2019 OR Manager Conference, which took place last September. OR Business Management Conference attendees start each year with a look at the latest technology, reimbursement models, and emerging trends…
Editor's Note This study from Linda Aiken, PhD, and colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, found that high levels of nurse burnout are associated with lower patient satisfaction. In this analysis of nurse burnout and patient satisfaction in 463 hospitals in four states, 50% of the hospitals where burnout…
Editor's Note Authentic leadership was the Healthy Work Environment (HWE) standard that most significantly correlated with nurse burnout and was the strongest predictor of compassion fatigue and secondary traumatic stress in this study. Nurses in four adult critical care units of a single facility were surveyed on the relationship between…
High rates of burnout among healthcare providers—between 35% and 54% of US nurses and physicians, and between 45% and 60% of medical students and residents—have raised concerns about patient and provider safety. Burnout, a psychological syndrome featuring emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and a reduced sense of personal accomplishment, is increasingly prevalent…
Editor's Note Concerns about physician shortages have led policy makers to advocate for the greater use of nurse practitioners (NPs). From 2010 to 2017, the number of NPs more than doubled from 91,000 to 190,000, this analysis finds. The growth of NPs, which occurred in every region of the US,…
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