5 8 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • A U G U S T 2 0 1 9
L
ast month,
surgeons
performed
28 fluid-
spewing
orthopedic cases in a
single day at the 3-OR
Boston Out-Patient
Surgical Suites in
Waltham, Mass. Had that
many procedures been
performed when the
facility opened in 2004,
fluid waste management
would have been an
aggravating and messy
part of the day. Nurses
would have been lugging
dozens of heavy, fluid-
filled canisters out of the
ORs, and would have
been exposed to splash-
back when they poured the contaminated contents down the hop-
per. Surgeons wouldn't have liked all the time it took nurses to man-
ually dispose of the fluid waste, and the surgical team would have
Adam Taylor | Senior Associate Editor
There's a Smarter Way
To Handle Fluid Waste
Closed systems take the risk, expense
and frustration out of keeping OR floors dry.
• SPLASH ZONE Orthopedic procedures are notorious for producing large
amounts of fluid runoff, which is both a nuisance and danger to staff.
Pamela
Bevelhymer,
RN,
BSN,
CNOR
