Same-Day Surgery – August 1, 2006
August 1, 2006
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Don't be one of the horror stories — Learn proper use of flash sterilization
With all of these problems, should you flash sterilize at all? "They should do it when they have no other choice," says Ramona Conner, RN, MSN, CNOR, perioperative nursing specialist at the Center for Nursing Practice at the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN). "It should not be routine." -
Educating staff is critical piece
Staff need a thorough understanding of the principles of decontamination and sterilization to perform flash sterilization properly, says Ramona Conner, RN, MSN, CNOR, perioperative nursing specialist at the Center for Nursing Practice at the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN). -
AAMI incorporates several practices into one
The Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) and American National Standards Institute (ANSI) are combining the recommended practice on flash sterilization with other standards into a single document on steam sterilization. -
New Patient Safety Goals added for next year
Medication lists for patients, development of a process for patients to express concern, and identification of patients at risk for suicide are the main changes and additions to requirements of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations' 2007 National Patient Safety Goals for ambulatory and hospital-based outpatient surgery programs. -
New JCAHO standard requires flu vaccine
A new infection control standard that will require hospitals to offer influenza vaccinations to staff members, volunteers, and independent licensed practitioners who have close patient contact will take effect Jan.1, 2007, for organizations accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. The new requirement does not apply to ambulatory facilities. -
Hospital, docs responsible in impairment case
In a first-of-its-kind court case, a jury held that a Louisiana hospital and two physicians intentionally misrepresented a former anesthesiologist's qualifications to a hospital in Washington state where he later was said to have botched a tubal ligation that left a 31-year-old woman with severe brain damage. -
Center given moratorium after abuse allegations
Outpatient surgery managers, take note: A Florida ambulatory surgery center (ASC) was banned from admitting new patients for 18 days following a determination by the state that the administrator/risk manager failed to prevent a male staff member from sexually abusing a patient after complaints from other staff members. -
ISMP warning: Providers confuse Carpuject syringes
In an ambulatory surgery center that was busy recently handling several patients, two patients received two doses of fentanyl instead of one dose each of fentanyl and midazolam, according to the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) in Huntingdon Valley, PA. -
Blue Cross sued over payment policy
The California Hospital Association has sued Blue Cross of California to stop a new payment policy that decreases reimbursement for endoscopic procedures that are performed in hospital outpatient departments and boosts payment when the procedures are performed in physician offices and freestanding surgery centers. -
Same-Day Surgery Manager: Questions about bonuses, moving GI procedures
Question: Our surgery center was bought by a chain surgery center at the end of last year. We received a bonus every quarter for the past 12 years by the surgeons who owned it before they sold it. Ever since XXX Company bought us, we have not received any type of bonus. They tell us we probably will not receive a bonus that it is not in their budget!