Outpatient Surgery Magazine

Going Green for the Greater Good - March 2020 - Subscribe to Outpatient Surgery Magazine

Outpatient Surgery Magazine, providing current information on Surgical Services, Surgical Facility Administration, Outpatient Surgery News and Trends, OR Excellence and more.

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the hallway. Once the patient is draped and the surgery starts, the circulator should ungown and perform hand hygiene, so as not to potentially contaminate the entire room. One other thing: If you need supplies or instruments that aren't in the OR, lean on your core techs outside of the room to track them down. • After surgery. When the procedure is complete, the circulator prepares to transport the patient to the PACU. She wipes down the chart and places it in a yellow bag or pillowcase. The circulator and anesthesia provider must don fresh yellow gowns and gloves before moving the patient to recovery. A scrub tech should stay by the patient's side while the circulator retrieves the transport bed or stretcher from the hallway. A PACU nurse should also be in a yellow gown and gloves, ready to receive the patient in an isolation room or bay. Remove the patient's chart from the yellow bag, wipe it down and place it in an ante room. Staff who cared for the patient in PACU should remove their yellow gowns and gloves, perform hand hygiene and change their scrubs. Worth the effort To implement the Risk Zone system, we presented at staff meetings and developed a poster that we showed to perioperative staff at our annual skills fair. We encouraged every nurse and tech to advocate for their patients and make sure to speak up when the protocol is violat- ed — such as when a surgeon walks into the OR and positions the patient without donning gowns and gloves. We continue to evaluate and audit for compliance. Over the last year and a half since we began the program, we've seen much improve- ment. It was a big project to implement. I needed input and buy-in from the entire perioperative team. All of us — pre-op, post-op, anes- M A R C H 2 0 2 0 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y. N E T • 3 3

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