The Daily Adventures of Surgical Leadership
I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling weary. This pandemic has brought so many “feels”, and all the personal and professional changes are, well, a lot. I’m sure that you can relate to some of my “feels”… grateful to be healthy and grateful…
Since falls impact patient safety, require notification for CMS quality reporting, and may result in patient injury or worse, it is good to consider how we assess our patients, educate our staff, and improve our processes to ensure we are doing everything possible. One question…
We are all probably a little numb when we read about medication safety. We get it. It’s super important. We live the life. It’s easy to become complacent until we have a problem. I decided to outline some practical best practices and hope…
Some days, it’s easy to forget why we are “here”. Working in surgery can be quite challenging. Being in charge can be even more challenging. Have you ever taken a mental inventory of your career choices that brought you to where you are? I know…
We have all heard the horror stories…of nurses using used needles and syringes, using unsafe techniques, using the same fluid bags or vials, and other of improper injection practices, making patients sick, or at minimum, requiring notification and testing of exposed patients. These unsafe injection…
It’s hard to think about “alternate” communication. We are always communicating. We are constantly receiving texts, emails, and phone calls. Now CMS wants us to have an alternate plan, when we can barely keep up with regular communication. If you consider, however, as…
I have the privilege of assisting surgical facilities prepare for surveys. I have seen countless wonderful, clean, well prepared centers where I would feel confident in having surgery or taking a loved one for surgery. Even in the most pristine facilities, there is sometimes an…
My sharp witted Australian WWII Nurse mother-in-law took a fall this week, and was brought to the emergency room. As I waited, I quickly became grateful for mom’s nurse. Christian provided excellent care, and I quickly realized that he had the qualities we would all…
When we have to facilitate a hospital transfer, we have to shift into high gear. Not only do we have to ensure a safe and smooth patient transition, we have to re-route other facility operations as we shift focus, all while being concerned for our…
June 10th is NTOD….National Time Out Day. It may seem like we are bombarded with safe surgical checklists, time out, and correct site language all the time, but it makes sense to make Time Out a focus in our facilities one day a year…