In this issue’s 2018 OR Manager Salary/Career survey results, just over two-thirds of respondents report overall job satisfaction, but some see the lack of staff and support from superiors as chief gaps in what OR managers need to be successful (cover story). The relatively high job satisfaction rate is encouraging,…

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Editor's Note With the announcement by Amazon, Berkshire-Hathaway, and JP Morgan to form a nonprofit consortium to manage costs and quality of healthcare for their employees, nursing leaders are looking at its implications and asking questions: Is nursing care affordable if it is not linked to improved outcomes? What price…

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High patient satisfaction scores and excellent multidisciplinary teamwork are the hallmarks of a well-managed surgical services department, and Sharon Udy-Janczuk, MSN, RN, CNOR, NE-BC, the 2018 OR Manager of the Year, has bragging rights to both. By cross-training staff in the presurgical care area, OR, and postanesthesia care unit (PACU),…

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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…

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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…

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Employee engagement is a buzzword that often crops up in articles, webinars, and conferences. OR leaders may be tired of seeing it, but engagement is crucial for success in an environment of fast-paced change, leadership turnover, and increasing demands for better performance. In healthcare, research has linked engagement with greater…

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Societal problems in recent years have placed increasing burdens on healthcare workers. With the increase in mass casualty victims, people displaced by natural disasters, and drug or alcohol addicts, it’s not uncommon to experience disruptive patients or families of patients who arrive at the facility under a great deal of…

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Editor's Note In this study, working overtime negatively influenced nurse-nurse and nurse-physician collaboration. Survey data from 24,013 nurses in 957 units from 168 hospitals in the National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators showed that one third of nurses work beyond their scheduled shifts. One hour of overtime was associated with…

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Mixed signals about the direction of healthcare reform, payment models, and policy decisions have characterized much of the past year. Given the number of highprofile personnel changes in the Trump Administration, the lack of continuity isn’t surprising. In recent days, however, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has…

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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…

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