Simulation on
a smaller scale
What changes might you make
in your facility if you ran a simu-
lation with your staff in a patient
care setting, be it pre-op, the OR
or PACU? You might be amazed
at the small and not-so-small
opportunities for improvement
you'll spot. You'll also be
pleased at the heightened level
of situational awareness and
teamwork your staff will exhibit
after participating in mock code
emergency drills.
To test your systems as well as
uncover trouble spots, you'll
want to bring the simulation bedside. Running the mock drills in the
actual patient care setting helps to achieve a high level of fidelity and
realism. In situ simulation is also beneficial to evaluate staff responsive-
ness to high acuity, low-occurrence (HALO) events, such as cardiac
arrest, a lost airway, malignant hyperthermia, local anesthesia toxicity
and a surgical fire.
Simulation need not take much time or cost much money. Time for
the actual simulation is generally limited to 5 to 10 minutes. You can
mobilize your simulation efforts for as little as a $3,500 CPR training
torso, a $100 handycam and a little effort developing an appropriate
patient scenario for your setting.
To defer costs, you can partner with a few other surgical facilties in
your community and rotate the equipment every few weeks.
Safety
S
2 4 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 9
• CPR BOOST A step stool helps shorter rescuers deliver deeper
chest compressions during cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
Michael
Kost,
DNP,
CRNA,
CHSE
