All of Rhode Island's 13 acute care hospitals have agreed to a single safe-surgery protocol, in what is thought to be a first for a state. The protocol, announced in July 2009, outlines steps for 3 phases of surgery—briefing, time-out, and debriefing—and includes elements of the Joint Commission Universal Protocol…

Read More

Your facility is having a baby boom. The number of cesarean births is exceeding the obstetrical unit's capacity. Administrators want the OR to perform the overflow cases. What plans do you make for patient safety and care of both mother and newborn? The cesarean birth rate has risen by more…

Read More

AORN offered updates on 3 of its recommended practices for 2009 at its annual Congress in March in Chicago: high-level disinfection cleaning and processing of flexible endoscopes surgical hand antisepsis. The first 2 recommended practices appear in the 2009 Perioperative Standards and Recommended Practices book. The third will be issued…

Read More

The code of ethics that guides relations between medical device companies and health care professionals has had a major update. The trade group AdvaMed (Advanced Medical Technology Association) issued a comprehensive revision of its ethics code in December 2008. The revised code is effective July 1, 2009. The purpose, AdvaMed…

Read More

AORN has updated 7 recommended practices (RPs) for 2008. Highlights were covered at the AORN Congress March 30 to April 4 in Anaheim. Here are selected highlights, which were presented by members of the Recommended Practices Committee. For the complete text, see AORN's 2008 Perioperative Standards and Recommended Practices. Each…

Read More

A regular column on sterilization and infection control issues. When you sterilize an instrument set, you know what the standards are. Sterilizers must provide a sterility assurance level (SAL) of 10 to the minus 6 (10-6). Biological indicators are used to test the efficacy of the sterilizer. Chemical indicators or…

Read More

A regular column on sterilization and infection control issues. Asterilizer may be functioning properly, but if all the steps leading up to actual sterilization have not been carried out properly, the processed item may not be sterile. One of those steps is packaging. The wrong package or packaging done incorrectly…

Read More

Biological monitoring is the cornerstone of your sterilization quality assurance program. What's the right way to use biological indicators (BIs)? What's their role in load release? And how are they used in conjunction with chemical indicators? OR Manager posed frequently asked questions to Cynthia Spry, RN, MA, MSN, CNOR, cochair…

Read More