We all know that foot traffic in the OR is an infection risk. Door
openings disturb the room's airflow, which can increase contamina-
tion above the incision. It can take the door as long as 20 seconds to
fully close, ample time for bacteria to rush in from areas outside the
OR. Here are a few simple steps to reduce foot traffic in and out of
the OR — and possibly lower your infection rate.
Let your fingers do the walking.
You just popped in the OR to ask someone a quick question or
to see if they need any help, but those pop-ins aren't always neces-
sary. We now realize that, in many cases, we don't need to talk to
someone face-to-face during surgery. We now communicate with them
via the phone. The phone is right outside the OR so that the person on
it is visible to the OR team through a window. We've posted a list of
phone numbers at every phone station, so no one has a reason to give
up on using the phone because they don't have the right number. A
seemingly obvious step, but one that people don't do because they're
focusing more on the amount of time they're in the room rather than
the fact that they opened the door to get in there and get out ("I was
only in there a few minutes!"). I was guilty of this. Sometimes I'd go
into the room to check on the staff or the progress of the case. Now I
just pick up the phone and ask if they need anything or any help. It's
kind of like Facetiming through the OR window.
If there are implants, give them a sign.
During any type of implant surgery, you want to limit foot traf-
fic as much as possible. We post a sign outside the room for orthope-
dic or breast implant procedures: "Do not come in! Implants being
implanted." The sign keeps people from entering the OR, but it's also
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