that patient is confirmed at registration to
ensure that the correct patient is having the
correct procedure.
The hospital has also implemented a time
out performed in the preoperative unit.
Driven by anesthesia, the time out involves
perioperative team members and encourages
the participation of patients and their family
members. This participation leads to engage-
ment of the patients and families during the
preoperative process resulting in improved
patient satisfaction and improved patient
outcomes, says Ms. Acosta.
"The hard stop originated in our preoperative
unit prior to performing nerve blocks and has
continued to evolve to include a time out for
all patients regardless of the type of proce-
dure," she says.
The OR staff performs observational audits of
the time out process and those audits are used
as a tool to identify process improvement initia-
tives in addition to aiding in the prevention of
wrong-site surgeries.
Counting on the count board
They assess the fire risk during the time outs
and documents in the perioperative nursing
care plan as well as on newly designed count
boards.
The surgical nursing task force designed a
4 2 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 8
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