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When an employee is reported to be acting suspiciously around partially clothed and/or semi-conscious patients, investigate and interview the patient and/or the employee reporting the suspicious actions, as well as the employee accused, experts suggest.
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According to new practice guidelines from the American Society of Anesthesiologists, when patients are at increased perioperative risk from obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), the facility should have emergency difficult airway equipment, respiratory care equipment [nebulizers, continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) equipment, and ventilators], radiology facilities (for portable X-rays), and clinical laboratory facilities (for blood gases and electrolytes).
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Outpatient surgery managers can get a jump on reminding staff members not to use certain abbreviations with a new toolkit available from Joint Commission Resources (JCR), an affiliate of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations.
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When Fatal Contact: Bird Flu in America aired this spring on ABC, many health care providers dismissed the movie as pure, exaggerated fiction about what could happen in terms of a pandemic or other patient surges.
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Eye surgeons need to know if patients are taking alpha-blockers to treat benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) because those drugs can cause complications during cataract surgery, say several national associations.
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A recent issue of Human Factors: The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society contains a special section of nine articles that focus on research designed to identify patient safety issues that can be addressed from an ergonomics perspective.
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Reviewing the standards requirements, poring over checklists, and preparing staff members for survey questions may be standard procedure for all outpatient surgery programs that prepare for accreditation surveys, but office-based programs face certain challenges that hospital-based and freestanding outpatient surgery programs don't encounter.
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Involvement of family members in discharge education and use of a comprehensive medication reconciliation form were the reason for two of the compliments paid to the office-based surgery practice of Gary Burton, MD, a plastic surgeon in Bowie, MD.
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Education and competency testing for all employees and physicians regarding pandemics should be mandatory, according to new guidance from the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN).
