Your People and Teams The COVID-19 pandemic has amplified existing personnel shortages in hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers (ASC), which are anticipated to persist. Before the pandemic, nursing supply and demand were already affected negatively by several factors, including approximately 70,000 Baby Boomer RNs retiring per year. As the remaining Baby Boomer RNs retire over…
Perioperative nursing, like any field, requires authenticity, honesty, and integrity for successful management. As perioperative represents one of the most challenging and demanding healthcare environments, patient-centered leadership is a must. This article previously published by OR Manager, titled "Words of wisdom: OR leaders offer tips for new managers," expands on…
Takeaways • Supporting nurse leaders is just as important as supporting staff to achieve optimal patient care and a financially healthy organization. • Organizations can support nurse leaders in many ways, including providing recognition, ancillary support, creative schedule options, and professional development opportunities. • Novice managers need structured programs to…
Takeaways • This buddy program works for all levels of an organization and for anyone who is starting to do something new in a leadership role. • New leaders often feel like they are being “thrown into the deep end,” and having buddies can help them feel safe. • The…
Takeaways for perioperative leaders The OR thrives when leaders act as coaches and focus on fostering growth, giving feedback, and prioritizing development—not just managing performance. True well-being goes beyond wellness and includes career, social, and community dimensions, not just physical and financial health. Who your team members work with matters—people…
Takeaways Perioperative staffing issues are likely to continue throughout 2023 because of rising case volumes and a lack of experienced staff. Travelers are expected to remain a core part of staffing. Perioperative leaders are using multiple strategies to recruit and retain staff, including float pools for health systems that have…
Congratulations. You have worked hard to master your skills in the sterile processing department (SPD). You have prepared, been interviewed, and finally been promoted to a leadership position. Now, what? Yesterday you were working as a peer in your department, and now you are the leader. Are you prepared for…
Nurse leaders know that a successful workplace fosters and celebrates teamwork. In the OR, teamwork among surgeons, surgical technologists, circulating nurses, anesthesiologists, and first assistants, to name a few, is critical to ensure patient safety and positive outcomes. And teamwork does not have to be reserved for inside the surgical…
Float teams have been a staple of nurse-staffing plans for many years, but they have not been widely used in the operating room. Utah Valley Hospital, a Level II trauma center in Provo, Utah, and part of the Intermountain Healthcare system, has been developing float teams for nearly 2 decades.…
When Ayumi Fielden, MSN, RN, CCRN-K, CPAN, worked as a preceptor in a PACU nurse residency program for new graduate nurses, she realized quickly that something was missing. “The graduate nurses struggled because they were not yet comfortable with basic nursing skills, such as assessments and giving medications. They also…
