In the operating room, patient safety depends on high quality communication and shared knowledge among the surgical team. Several factors in this setting can contribute to communication failures like time constraints, shift changes, environmental barriers, the complex nature of surgical procedures, and clashing communication styles. All members of the surgical team must understand the risks to patient safety associated with communication failures, what information must be communicated and when, and how to use an assertive communication style.

The goal of this course is to equip nurses and CSTs with best practices for effectively communicating in the operating room. 

Perioperative providers can BEST prepare for emergencies in the operating room by knowing the responsibilities of each team member and rehearsing interventions ahead of time. When you are in the moment and your heart is racing, it’s easy to forget how to respond or even where supplies are located. Practicing your responsibilities and team interventions ahead of time will help to prepare you for the unexpected. This course provides you with an opportunity to participate in five emergency scenarios to test your knowledge. Time is of the essence when an emergency happens so you must think and act fast to save the patient!

The goal of this course is to equip nurses and STs with knowledge of the responsibilities of the team during a range of OR emergencies. 

Proper surgical specimen handling is essential for patient safety. This course covers best practices for intraoperative personnel to prepare, label, and transfer specimens accurately. Adhering to these protocols ensures that specimens are identified and handled appropriately, minimizing the risk of harm to the patient.

This course provides OR nurses and surgical technologists with knowledge of best practices for specimen handling.

Worldwide, postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) accounts for high rates of maternal morbidity and mortality. Early recognition is key to good outcomes. Recognizing PPH, its stages, and how to measure blood loss is essential since treatment is based on the stages of hemorrhage. Additionally, it is important to understand nursing interventions, treatments for PPH, and teamwork and communication needs to improve perinatal outcomes.

This course aims to enhance the knowledge of acute care nurses about postpartum hemorrhage, including its causes, risk factors, and medical and surgical management.

The role of a preceptor is vital to an organization’s ability to efficiently and effectively onboard an individual to a new department or work unit. This course is designed to include principles and practices for precepting new employees across healthcare settings. It introduces the learner to the fundamentals of the preceptor role and provides best practices for being an effective preceptor. Preceptors exhibit professionalism and best practices in their work units. Being a preceptor requires skill, talent, and preparation to yield the best outcomes.

Healthcare professionals often encounter patients experiencing agitation or displaying hostile behavior during their careers. De-escalation is a set of approaches and techniques used to assist patients in self-calming to avoid incidents of harm to self, others, or property. Professionals should understand escalation and physiological responses to threats. After determining the risk of escalation, healthcare professionals can use various aspects of verbal communication, such as tone and pitch, and nonverbal communication skills to defuse potentially hostile situations and apply the least restrictive interventions. 

Medical errors and substandard care occur often in today’s complex healthcare organizations. Errors are usually due to multiple factors at the system-level rather than a single factor from an individual. Healthcare organizations that are committed to patient safety are high-reliability organizations. These organizations remain alert for ways to protect patients from harm even though they have few adverse events. This course will offer suggestions for reducing medical errors and maintaining a culture of safety.

Veterans are 1.5 times more likely to die by suicide than non-veterans (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs [VA], 2022). This course will explain the specific factors that increase suicide risk in veterans. You will also learn about assessment and intervention approaches used to manage suicide risk in this population.

The goal of this course is to provide knowledge to addictions, behavioral health counseling, case management/care management, marriage and family therapy, nursing, psychology, social work professionals, and physicians in health and human services settings about suicide prevention strategies for veterans.

As a healthcare professional transporting patients to the ED, you may serve patients with symptoms indicative of behavioral health disorders, such as depressive, bipolar, and anxiety disorders. In some situations, the ED provider must administer psychiatric medications. However, if possible, it is prudent to defer their use until the patient is admitted to an inpatient mental health facility or seen as an outpatient. In many instances, the reason for presentation in the ED is an adverse reaction to psychiatric medications.

A ‘culture of safety’ is an often-heard term in clinical settings. Most patients require complex care, with many interprofessional teams working together. Large patient volumes, an expectation for rapid delivery of care, the consumer’s ability to choose providers, and government reimbursements all drive acute care facilities to invest in preventing or reducing errors. Improving safety is beneficial to the patient primarily, with less risk of injury or death, but also to the facility and staff, improving retention and job satisfaction, with the added benefit of extensive cost-savings.

By understanding the causes of stroke and how to treat and prevent it, you can make a significant difference in the lives of those you care for. This course will help you identify the symptoms of a stroke and provide you with the necessary knowledge to provide care during and after the stroke.
 

Ensuring patient safety in the operating room (OR) requires effective communication, structured protocols, and teamwork. This course examines perioperative communication failures, preoperative verification, site marking, timeouts, and just culture in promoting accountability. Learners will explore evidence-based safety practices and apply structured handoff techniques to improve patient care transitions.

This course provides perioperative nurses and STs with tools to improve communication and safety protocols, fostering a just culture to reduce OR errors.

Though active shooter events are rare, it is practical and necessary to be well-prepared for the possibility, especially when you work with the public. Between 2010 and 2020, The Joint Commission (TJC) received 39 reports of active shootings that resulted in 39 deaths at accredited hospitals (TJC, 2021). As a result, the Center for Medicare Services (CMS) and TJC require hospitals to prepare for all hazards, including active shooter or hostage events, and to work with their local law enforcement and emergency response agencies to prepare for and respond to active shooter events. Understanding the risks and motivations behind active shooter events, how your body and mind may respond to stress, and how best to prepare for an active shooter event is the best way to protect yourself and others should the unthinkable occur in your facility.

Healthcare and behavioral health professionals providing services on the front lines of a sustained health crisis are exposed to traumatic events on a regular basis. Staff deemed essential have little escape from the grueling demands of their daily work. Professional self-care routines are often insufficient or seemingly impossible during times of heavy demand. Without healthy work-life balance, effective self-care practices, and social connection, maladaptive coping mechanisms may surface or return. Many professionals experience feelings of helplessness when, despite their best efforts, they are unable to provide clinical solutions for their clients or patients. Based on what is known about trauma, it is imperative for professionals to effectively address self-care needs in a timely manner, for themselves and for those they serve.

Septic arthritis is caused by infection and inflammation in the joint and can result in significant damage to the joints. Early recognition and treatment are critical to the preservation of joint function. This course will discuss how to quickly identify and treat septic arthritis.  

The goal of this course is to provide physicians, nursing professionals, and radiologic technologists with information about septic arthritis.

Survivors of rape and sexual assault will experience a variety of physical and emotional comorbidities as a direct result of their experience. This means survivors will enter the healthcare system through a variety of specialty clinics in addition to their primary care provider. It is important healthcare providers of all disciplines, be familiar with the signs that a patient may have been raped or sexually assaulted in their past. This course will provide the legal aspects of rape and sexual assault, the emotional and physical trauma associated with the experience, and how to identify and care for survivors. 

Shoulder dystocia is an obstetric emergency. To prepare for this rare occurrence, your healthcare team should be knowledgeable about the risk factors, potential complications, and the management of shoulder dystocia. In addition, emergency professionals should develop strategies to help their healthcare team prepare for this rare event.

Nearly half of all cases of shoulder dystocia occur in the absence of risk factors, making them largely unpredictable and unpreventable. Perinatal morbidity and mortality rates associated with shoulder dystocia are high, even when properly managed.

Although shoulder dystocia is considered an obstetric emergency, a well-trained obstetric provider and a team of nursing/resuscitation professionals can usually manage it well for the pregnant person and fetus. 

A review of clinical judgment related to the use of primary maneuvers for managing shoulder dystocia.

Syndrome of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone (SIADH) is a condition that occurs when the body produces too much antidiuretic hormone (ADH), which causes fluid retention and electrolyte imbalance. SIADH can have various causes and manifestations and can lead to serious complications if not recognized and treated promptly. This course will provide you with the knowledge to thoroughly assess and manage patients with SIADH in the hospital setting.

Health outcomes are influenced in myriad ways by an individual’s social environment and their community. For example, community is linked to such outcomes as body mass index, homicide rates, and suicidal behavior (Diez Roux & Mair, 2010; Bharmal et al., 2015; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], n.d.). Due to these strong influences on health outcomes, the U.S. Department Health and Human Services Healthy People 2030 campaign identifies social and community context as a domain of the social determinants of health. Social determinants of health are external conditions which exist with the potential to affect a patient’s current and future health, often beyond a patient’s direct control. Of particular importance, however, is how this domain fits into the larger picture of the social determinants of health. The elements in the social and community context have been shown to help negate potentially negative consequences of the other social determinants of health (Bharmal et al., 2015).

Education access and quality is a pillar of the social determinants of health for Healthy People 2030 (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, n.d.). This course outlines the effects of education on an individual’s health. The four components of education access and quality include early childhood education and development, high school graduation, enrollment in higher education, and language and literacy.

Substance use in the workplace carries a stigma, causing difficulties in seeking help and impacting employee satisfaction, turnover, productivity, and insurance claims. Supervisors play a unique role in the success of a drug-free workplace policy. They are often the first to identify a potential problem.

This course provides healthcare professionals, managers, and leaders with an understanding of the competencies needed to identify and manage employees with substance use issues.

Nursing remains a top occupation in the U.S., with strong job growth projected through 2032 (U.S. Bureau of Labor, 2024). As healthcare systems evolve, nurses will play an increasingly significant role. With many nurse leaders nearing retirement, preserving their professional and institutional knowledge is crucial. Despite the importance of succession planning for leadership roles, less than 10% of healthcare organizations have a formal process in place (LaCross et al. 2019).

This course provides nurses with knowledge of the importance and development of succession planning for nursing.