Spine positioning moves center stage: How 3 systems are reducing injury risk
Prolonged operative times and prone positioning make spine surgery one of the highest-risk settings for pressure and nerve injuries. The consequences land on patients, staff and margins alike.
That risk is about to carry new accountability. Beginning in calendar year 2028, CMS will require organizations to report on the Hospital Harm – Pressure Injury measure, which tracks new pressure injuries across multiple stages.
This asset offers perspectives from Sutter Health, Washington Hospital Fremont and El Camino Health Mountain View on how validated consumables and patient protection kits are reducing injury risk and bringing consistency to the OR.
Their experience points to a clear shift: standardized, validated kits outperform improvised setups built from separate pads and SKUs, and they make safe positioning easier to teach as spine volumes move into ASCs.
This report details what these teams have learned and where the practice is heading.
Insights include:
That risk is about to carry new accountability. Beginning in calendar year 2028, CMS will require organizations to report on the Hospital Harm – Pressure Injury measure, which tracks new pressure injuries across multiple stages.
This asset offers perspectives from Sutter Health, Washington Hospital Fremont and El Camino Health Mountain View on how validated consumables and patient protection kits are reducing injury risk and bringing consistency to the OR.
Their experience points to a clear shift: standardized, validated kits outperform improvised setups built from separate pads and SKUs, and they make safe positioning easier to teach as spine volumes move into ASCs.
This report details what these teams have learned and where the practice is heading.
Insights include:
- Why prone positioning drives the greatest risk during spine and neuro cases
- How standardized kits simplify training during periods of high staff turnover
- The connection between validated consumables, equipment longevity and fewer canceled cases
- What it takes to build clinician buy-in around standardization
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