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Frequent laboratory testing, convenience of arterial catheters and inconsistent practices contribute to blood loss in postoperative patients. EBP Question: What is the minimum discard volume required when drawing blood from arterial lines? 50 evidence-based articles were reviewed. Expert opinions and guidelines were evaluated. Literature recommends using a blood-conserving device or equating the discard volume to double the arterial line dead space from the catheter tip to the sampling port. Given the compromised immunity of our patients, a closed system was not optimal. We measured 3 ml to be double the arterial line dead space. A dedicated 3 ml waste tube was proposed and approved by our multidisciplinary partners, resulting in decreasing the discard volume from 9 ml to 3 ml.This practice change provides standardization and numerous safety advantages in PACU and ICU settings. The waste tube is plastic as opposed to glass and is significantly more cost effective. It is distinct from our current inventory of laboratory tubes so to avoid being mistakenly analyzed as a diagnostic test. A dedicated 3 ml waste tube has maintained accurate test results while minimizing blood loss to the adult perianesthesia patient.Purpose: Failures of communication have been associated with poor quality care. Effective communication may be especially critical during care transitions. We developed a communication improvement intervention focusing on handoffs between anesthesia providers (AP) and Post anesthesia Care Unit (PACU) nurses (RN). We hypothesized that a targeted simulation-based training and performance improvement intervention would increase handoff quality, enhance culture of communication, and improve overall care quality in the PACU. This abstract reports the effects of the intervention on the quality of actual PACU handoffs. Methods: The curriculum and supporting hand-off tools were designed based on live observations of PACU hand-offs and targeted interviews of APs and RNs. The focus was on obstacles to effective handoffs that were identified to include clarity of roles and responsibilities, lack of standardization, and interruptions and distractions. The intervention included a didactic webinar, a new handoff report tool, and a 2 hour simulationbased training session that used standardized patients, clinicians, manikin simulators, and facilitated debriefing. A handoff assessment tool was iteratively developed and validated to measure core elements. RNs were trained to use the tool during 865 actual handoffs. Conclusion: We demonstrated a significant improvement in actual PACU handoff effectiveness following a simulation-based training and performance improvement intervention.Maintaining perioperative normothermia reduces postoperative complications. There is a need for accurate, non-invasive methods to take temperatures representative of core temperatures. The study purpose was to determine which noninvasive thermometry method most accurately represents core. A repeated-measures design was used with a convenience samp...