J U N E 2 0 1 9 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y. N E T • 4 1
Y
ou never want to sac-
rifice patient safety
in your quest to start
the next case as soon
as possible. Here's a
collection of tips to speed room
turnover without jeopardizing your
level of care.
1. Deploy your troops
Let's start with a few creative
ways to let environmental services
know that a room is down and
that it needs to be cleaned. There
are beepers, overhead paging sys-
tems, red magnets and even electronic boards that flash a "final
stitch" symbol.
• Beepers. At the Jack C. Montgomery VA Medical Center in
Muskogee, Okla., they programmed a string of beepers to page the
housekeeping staff, OR charge nurse and PACU staff at once to let
them know that the patient is coming off the table. The circulator
enters "222" for room 2, "333" for room 3 and so on.
• Overhead page. "When staff are working in other ancillary areas
such as the work room or in the stock room, they can hear the over-
head page and they will stop and go help that room turn over," says
Kelly Norman, RN, CNOR, administrator at Advanced Family Surgery
A Turn for The Better
8 ways to cut your turnover times
— without sacrificing patient care.
Mike Morsch | Associate Editor
• EARLY CALL Environmental services needs to know as soon
as possible that a room is down and that it needs to be
cleaned.
Pamela
Bevelhymer,
RN,
BSN,
CNOR
