At its foundation, ambulatory surgical procedures refer to the ability for a patient to leave the hospital or medical facility the same day of the surgery without being admitted. There are several other names for ambulatory surgeries, such as: Outpatient surgery Same-day procedure (surgery) Minimally...
The number of outpatient surgical procedures in the U.S. is expected to climb to 144 million per year by 2023. Additionally, more than 48 million inpatient surgical procedures are performed in hospitals annually. The tremendous growth in surgical cases leaves room for infections if hospitals...
Healthcare is an ever-changing industry. Diseases are discovered, cures are created, new ways of caring for patients and treating disease are developed. As healthcare evolves, it is essential that our facilities evolve, too. Updating healthcare facilities doesn’t mean continually constructing new buildings in place of...
The healthcare industry is constantly changing. New infectious diseases are discovered and, thanks to human ingenuity in terms of innovative research, new treatments and vaccines are created. Although infections are different from one to the next, the chain of infection explains how infectious diseases spread...
Healthcare technology is continually changing; it’s becoming more powerful and precise in modern times. As life-saving machinery evolves, healthcare facilities have to adapt to accommodate newer, possibly larger, equipment. Understanding the best practices for healthcare facility construction is a major requirement for any medical facility...
The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced an official name for the disease causing 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak, COVID-19. CDC will update their website and other CDC information to reflect this change as no doubt other websites will follow. Research and other articles written prior...
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Standard Precautions combine the major features of Universal Precautions (UP) and Body Substance Isolation (BSI) and are based on the principle that all blood, body fluids, secretions, excretions except sweat, nonintact skin, and mucous membranes may...
How Should I Clean This? Take your pick of any type of patient care equipment in the inpatient or outpatient setting, and I have probably been asked about cleaning it. Let’s quickly review some basics. Always use an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) registered hospital grade disinfectant, which...
Cough etiquette was introduced as part of standard precautions by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the 2007 Isolation guidelines. The 2003 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak, which resulted in the transmission of SARS to emergency department patients, visitors, and staff,...