Performance Improvement The American Heart Association has issued a scientific statement in its journal Circulation on the topic of perioperative anemia and patient blood management in cardiac surgery. Calling perioperative anemia and red blood cell transfusions important risk factors for morbidity and mortality in cardiac surgery, it notes that up to 50%…
“Please come to the OR. We have moisture in our tray.” My hope is that you never hear these words. But if you do, leadership must act quickly to protect patient safety. Understanding the risk Sterilization is designed to remove harmful microorganisms, but sterility depends on keeping items dry after…
I have walked into a lot of organizations over the last decade. Different industries. Different leadership teams. Different problems on the surface. But the same failure lurked underneath almost every single one. Nobody built the leaders on purpose. When I stepped into the perioperative space three years ago, I did…
San Juan Regional Medical Center, a 198-bed community hospital in Farmington, N.M., that serves the Four Corners region where Utah, Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico meet, strives to provide the members of its sprawling rural community with access to the surgical services they deserve. But it faced a critical challenge.…
What does your chief operating officer (COO) think of the state of perioperative services at your organization? How should they think about it? A new white paper provides some rich insight for COOs on how to drive perioperative operational improvements that will also bolster financial performance. For perioperative leaders, it…
The American College of Surgeons (ACS) has announced that the new clinical outcomes report from its National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP) now provides hospitals risk-adjusted, benchmarked data for emergency general surgery for the first time, in the interest of advancing “data-driven quality improvement in one of the most complex…
One of the greatest opportunities in sterile processing today is not simply improving workflows. The greater opportunity is developing operational intelligence. Healthcare organizations measure what they prioritize. Sterile processing has historically existed in a space where it is operationally essential, yet strategically undermeasured. Most perioperative leaders can quickly identify core…
A new study published in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons examines the efficacy of the American College of Surgeons (ACS) Geriatric Surgery Verification (GSV) Program’s older-adult enhanced recovery protocol. The GSV program is designed specifically for patients 65 and older. Its seven components are: Delirium prevention Routine…
Despite your and your staff’s best intentions, do your facility’s hallways become clogged with equipment and other materials? Are your storage areas overflowing and spilling out into these important corridors? Is it a recurring situation where action is taken to clear the hallways and then, over the course of the…
The American College of Gastroenterology (ACG) has published a clinical guideline that presents a comprehensive approach to perioperative risk assessment and management in patients with cirrhosis – a population that it says presents “unique surgical risks.” The guideline emphasizes a multidisciplinary approach to preoperative evaluation, perioperative care, and postoperative follow-up.…
