Periop Pulse 
As a perioperative leader, have you ever considered… a perioperative mascot? Because this is something that exists in Australia. A cuddly little stuffed bear named Sir Stitches is now an employee of sorts with The Government of Western Australia’s WA Country Health Service. The tiny mascot is traveling to facilities…
A new white paper takes a deep dive into a challenge facing the entire perioperative services industry: managing the skyrocketing costs of anesthesia services while ensuring operations stay on track. The white paper, “Anesthesiology at the Intersection of Operations and Revenue Cycle,” is available to read for free here. Produced…
A new original investigation published online ahead of print in JAMA Surgery tackles the question of whether robot-assisted radical hysterectomy is associated with improved perioperative safety and early patient-reported outcomes compared with open surgery in early-stage cervical cancer. Researchers performed a secondary analysis of the Robot-Assisted Approach to Cervical Cancer…
An article in press published this month in Annals of Allergy, Asthma, & Immunology, the official journal of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, examines the challenges of perioperative anaphylaxis. The article is authored by Dennis K. Ledford, MD, FAAAAI, FACAAI, Mabel and Ellsworth Simmons Professor of Allergy/Immunology…
This month’s Periop Leader Week included programming intended to foster cross-functional communication and collaboration between OR teams and sterile processing departments (SPDs), as well as between infection preventionists and SPDs. Conversations with Periop Leader Week speakers and attendees who work in sterile processing revealed a unanimous desire for SPD to…
A new national guideline has been established in the United Kingdom to “improve care of people with Parkinson’s before, during and after surgery.” The guideline should be of interest to perioperative professionals in the U.S., as well. Read the guideline—which was developed by the Centre for Perioperative Care (CPOC), hosted…
St. Luke’s University Health Network has opened St. Luke’s Heart Hospital on its St. Luke’s Anderson Campus in Easton, Pa. Construction began in 2024 on the five-story, approximately 355,000-square-foot, $252 million facility—the “largest construction project in St. Luke’s more than 150-year history, both in dollar figure and square footage,” according…
The Tampa General Hospital (TGH) Neuro Spine Program achieved a first-in-the-world designation as a Center of Excellence in Neuro Spine Surgery by nonprofit patient safety organization Surgical Review Corporation (SRC) Puya Alikhani, MD, was also recognized as the world’s first surgeon to earn SRC’s Master Surgeon designation in Neuro Spine…
NBC Chicago reports that Saint Joseph Hospital in Elgin, Ill., has suspended its Level II trauma center designation due “significantly” declining trauma volumes. Owner Prime Healthcare, calling it a “carefully considered decision,” stated to the TV station that the hospital “has recently treated an average of only two major trauma…
KXXV-TV reports that Texas’ Baylor Scott & White Medical Center - Temple is undergoing a “major expansion that will add beds, surgical suites, imaging technology and updated facilities across its campus, including McLane Children's Hospital and its College of Medicine.” Three new floors will be added to the facility’s South…
