AORN journal
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The "Letters to the Editor" column in any journal is an excellent place to begin writing for publication. Opinions, clarifications, and reflections about articles can be valuable to other readers. Does an article get you thinking? If so, write a letter to the editor. The AORN Journal readers looks forward to hearing from you.
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Practice Guideline Guideline
AORN Guidance Statement: preoperative patient care in the ambulatory surgery setting.
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Inadvertent hypothermia is one of the most common complications experienced by surgical patients who are transferred to the postanesthesia care unit (PACU). Appropriate pacu length of stay (LOS) is defined as the time required for a patient to achieve a physiologically stable condition after anesthesia administration. In studies measuring appropriate LOS, patients who arrived hypothermic in the PACU had longer stays than those who arrived normothermic. The aims of this study were to determine whether the actual and appropriate LOS in the PACU differs between hypothermic and normothermic patients and to identify differences between subgroups of patients according to age, gender, and type of anesthesia administered.
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As a result of new regulatory requirements and consumer demands for optimal health care, a focus on patient safety is even more important. In 2001, a corporate patient safety project was initiated by managers at one facility's six hospital-based perioperative suites. Although each suite had its own policies and procedures, no formal assessment of compliance with policies existed. ⋯ The assessment included a tool, a questionnaire, and an assessment process. After being tested at one facility, perioperative safety assessments were performed in the organization's six ORs and two ambulatory surgery centers. Best practices then were shared across the system.