Editor's Note The Massachusetts state regulation of 1:1 or 2:1 patient-to-nurse staffing ratios in intensive care units (ICUs), as guided by patient complexity scores, was not linked with either increased nurse staffing or changes in patient outcomes, this study finds. Examining records from 246 medical centers nationwide, and comparing patient…

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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…

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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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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…

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Editor's Note US hospitals added 10,600 jobs in June to a seasonally adjusted 5,175,800, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on July 6. That is 95,300 more employees than a year ago. The overall unemployment rate rose 0.2% in June to 4.0%.

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The loss of experienced nurse leaders to Baby Boomer retirement has been a concern for the past several years. A total of 17% of respondents to the 2017 OR Manager Salary/Career survey said they plan to retire sometime in 2018 to 2020, so grooming their successors should already be well…

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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…

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Editor's Note Getting to know staff members and supporting that interaction with data helps leaders grow teams, S. Chris Edmonds says in the May 24 Great Leadership. To influence others in the workplace, Edmonds says: Connect with people at all levels and learn their names, their passions, what hinders their…

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Editor's Note Working the night shift and sleeping during the day for just a few days can disrupt levels and time-of-day patterns of more than 100 proteins in the blood (ie, plasma proteomes), this study finds. Six healthy men volunteers in their 20s spent 6 days in the clinical translational…

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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…

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