Same-Day Surgery 2003-07-01

Ensure equipment isn’t left inside patient or face headlines, litigation

Its not an urban legend or an Internet rumor. A Canadian woman really did walk through a metal detector at an airport and trigger the alarm, which led to the discovery that a 33 cm surgical retractor had been left in her abdomen after a procedure.

These 4 areas of counting puzzle nursing staff

The Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN) in Denver regularly receives questions from members about their counting procedures. Here are some of the most common, with answers from Ramona Conner, RN, MSN, perioperative nursing specialist at AORN.

Everyone counts — or do they? Study results are troubling

A recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine reported a disturbing finding: In one-third of the cases of retained equipment that were studied, surgical teams failed to count equipment before and after the operations.

SDS shared 65 cost-containment tips

Keep morale high — hire the right people

You have to replace four out of 14 nonclinical patient care coordinators. Because youre in a crunch, you just place your standard ad in the paper and choose the best four people who apply and who can start immediately. Not any more.

Same-Day Surgery Manager: SDS managers share their biggest headaches

As a manager, what is your greatest challenge? What cause your greatest headaches and takes the most of your time? In an informal and anonymous poll of friends in the business, Stephen W. Earnhart asks these and other questions.

How do employees act when drug-impaired?

In this second part of a two-part series on addictions, we discuss the characteristics of drug-impaired employees and give you resources for helping them.

Safe practices will be the standard of care

The National Quality Forum has approved four additional safe practices that should be used universally in applicable health care settings to reduce the risk of harm. These four include three that affect the outpatient surgical area.

HIPAA Q & A

Question: Who are my business associates, and what needs to be included in a business associate agreement?

FDA has no conclusion on scopes in bacteria cases

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) could not come to a conclusion on the cause of an outbreak at Allegheny General Hospital in Pennsylvania in which patients may have been exposed to pseudomonas bacteria through improperly sterilized bronchoscopes.

SDS Accreditation Update: Use FMEA to find and fix problems before they happen

Ambulatory programs accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations soon will be required to perform at least one failure mode effect and analysis (FMEA) per year.

SDS Accreditation Update: Time-out is the key to correct surgical site ID

In addition to posting signs in the operating room to remind staff to take a time-out just prior to the first incision to verify the surgical site, there are other activities you should perform on an ongoing basis to make sure staff follow your time-out policy.