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When you update your policies to address sexual harassment, change them to prohibit all forms of unlawful harassment, advises Brian A. Lapps Jr., JD, member at Waller Lansden in Nashville, TN. Lapps, along with E. Brent Hill, JD, also a member at Waller Lansden, spoke at the most recent annual meeting of the Federated Ambulatory Surgery Association.
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The staff in the pre-op area see the nurse liaisons interaction with patients and families as having a calming effect on the patient and family members, especially when there are delays, and [post-anesthesia care unit] nurses are relieved that the family is being taken care of so they can concentrate solely on the patients needs, explains Maureen Spangler, RN, CNOR, director of perioperative services at Lexington Medical Center in West Columbia, SC.
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What staff position can be described as beneficial to your outpatient surgery program by 82% of your surgeons, 93% of your RN circulators, and 99% of your PACU staff, and 100% of your preop staff? And by the way, this same staff person also is described as very beneficial by 88% of your patients.
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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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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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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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Peer review is a key component of any credentialing and privileging process but it does require some effort if the outpatient surgery program is office-based, admit experts interviewed by SDS Accreditation Update.
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The Institute for Safe Medication Practices and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration have launched a national education campaign designed to reduce medication errors.
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Consumers now have on-line access to information on facility costs and Medicare payments for 61 procedures performed in ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs).
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Question: We looked at the new rates for surgery center reimbursement and were delighted to see the increase in our procedure reimbursement. Is it safe to open the champagne?