AORN journal
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This article describes a statistical method used to determine the minimum number of OR teams that should be on call for urgent procedures, in-house versus on standby from home, to minimize labor costs. The OR manager obtains the number of ORs staffed at each hour of the 24-hour period of interest (e.g., 7 AM Saturday to 7 AM Sunday) from the surgical suite's information system. ⋯ This method enumerates all possible combinations of shifts to find the one with the lowest cost, and it ensures a prespecified service level. An example based on 248 weeks of data collected from a large surgical suite is presented, and staffing for emergency procedures is reviewed.
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The purpose of this study was to explore the relationships between patient satisfaction and selected variables that were identified as important in ambulatory surgery. The study addressed whether the selected variables are associated with the satisfaction of patients admitted to the hospital for ambulatory surgery. A descriptive correlational study was conducted in two hospital settings with 130 ambulatory surgical patients. ⋯ Patients with high postoperative pain rated satisfaction with pain management lower. A point biserial correlation (rpb = .22) indicated a significant correlation between patient satisfaction and nurses' use of computers to collect and record patient information (P = .01). The patient sample in the setting where computers were used showed a higher mean patient satisfaction.
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The term bloodless surgery refers to the practice of performing surgical procedures without the use of allogenic blood and avoiding the use of stored blood, including autologous blood, entirely. This article reviews the scientific and clinical literature regarding bloodless surgery and describes the application of a full-service, bloodless program within a community hospital.