We live in a hyper-partisan, hyper-sensitive, hyper-litigious society. We are also addicted to our social media. The two can be an explosive combination.

As frightening as the news is right now - it will pass. Our healthcare industry will be smarter and stronger from what we are learning today from this crisis. On the other side of this nightmare our hospitals will be more focused on greater healthcare challenges such as intensive care, organ transplants, and acute care management. Surgery centers will rapidly expand and multiply as we realize that elective and routine outpatient surgery does not belong in acute care facilities.
More individuals will choose healthcare as a profession, impressed by the inspiration of our first responders, our nurses, our physicians, our intake personnel. Our healthcare supply chains will not be dependent upon countries outside of the US to maintain adequate par levels of needed supplies. Our strength shall come from within. Thank everyone of you for the job you are doing! It may get darker before the light - but the light will come...

The overall measure of a patient satisfaction score comes down to how patients feel about their care. While a patient’s impression of your facility can feel elusive, there are some tangible steps you can take to increase your patient satisfaction scores.

First things first: I have ZERO, ZIP, NADA relationship with McGrath.

Starting IVs is a crucial part of being an excellent ambulatory care nurse. While painless IV cannulations can be a challenging skill to master, they are vital to your patient’s recovery. Here’s our 5 steps to starting an IV for new nurses (or nurses who need a refresher):

You know that days at an ASC can fly by in a blink. And as ASCs add more surgeries to the OR board to increase revenue, time management becomes even more precious. Here are 7 tried-and-true tactics your ASC needs to improve nursing time management.

In the ambulatory surgical setting, nurses are forced to wear a lot of hats. They are not only the nurse, but may be a respiratory therapist, secretary, physician liaison for physician office referrals, educator, physical therapist, housekeeping, infection control, quality coordinator, and any other role necessary to deliver exceptional care to the patient. With limited budget and resources, surgical facilities are still expected to maintain infection control and quality assurance (QA) programs to ensure patients are receiving the safest care. The Joint Commission requires QA programs to cover Infection Control, Performance Improvement efforts, and the Culture of Safety within the ASC. In Texas, the Department of Health (TDH) wants all transfers, emergency department admissions, hospitalizations, and patients returned to surgery to be included in reporting requirements.

Nurses at every level of the care continuum must be leaders. Showing leadership doesn’t only help your department run smoothly, but it also improves communication and patient outcomes. This post explores four strategies every nurse can use to can show leadership qualities—no matter your title.

Nurses are integral to the culture of safety in every ASC across the country. This post explores four strategies that can place safety at the forefront of your ASC’s patient care culture.

Last week we discussed how to screen patients for undiagnosed sleep apnea. This week, let's continue the discussion by delving into practical considerations for sleep apnea management. There are many factors to consider, but we want to focus on what’s practical and within the surgery center’s scope. We want to focus on easy-to-implement, cost-effective, efficient ways to best help these patients.