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S U R G I C A L
S I T E
M A R K I N G
should be. When we asked a hospital administrator to describe the site-marking protocol at
her facility, she couldn't give us a definitive
answer. "It varies depending on the case," she
says. "Some doctors use X, some use their initials." Says another: "Initials or a suitable
mark — it varies by surgeon." Your guess is as
good as ours what constitutes a suitable site
mark in that OR.
Orthopedic surgeon John D. Kelly IV, MD, a
sports shoulder specialist from Philadelphia,
Pa., marks the site as it should be done. He
uses a non-fading, one-time-use surgical marker to write his initials on the site, and then
operates through or adjacent to his initials. "It
creates a thick and legible line and it's sterile,"
he says. "Writing YES or one's initials eliminates confusion." Unless, of course, your doctor's name is Nick O'Brien or Nate Oswalt, in
which his case marking the site with your initials would spell NO and leave you with more
questions than answers.
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