Outpatient Surgery Magazine

OR Excellence Awards - September 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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10 • O U T P A T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 0 Ideas Work That W e devised a simple method to let each other know when ORs have been turned over and are ready for the next patient. A staff member places a magnetic button embossed with our facility's logo on the metal frames of the OR doorways. This one simple step improves efficiencies by immedi- ately alerting staff that the next patient can be brought back for surgery. If you don't have metal doorframes at your facility, there are other simple ways to signify a room has been cleaned. For instance, you can secure laminated placeholders on doors with double-sided tape or Velcro and slip in cards that say "clean" inside them after the turnover process has been completed. Victoria Wiltshire, MBA, RN SightTrust Eye Institute Sunrise, Fla. vwiltshire@sighttrust.com VISUAL CUE Magnets Signal When ORs Are Ready TURNOVER TRICK Buttons stuck on doorframes tell staff at SightTrust Eye Institute that rooms have been cleaned and prepped for the next case. Victoria Wiltshire, MBA, RN STAFF SATISFACTION Keep Track of Breaks With an App S taff members who aren't given time to take breaks during busy shifts can quickly become dissatisfied. Ensuring each staff member has an opportu- nity to step away from surgery for a few minutes can be difficult due to ineffective ways for assigning and tracking break times. That's why I worked with one of our hospi- tal's IT reps to adapt an app that tracks breaks for anesthesia providers to the needs of the surgery department. Surgical team members downloaded the app to their phones or computers. When they go on break, they check the appropriate box in the app, which records the time and the OR in which the break was taken. Our board run- ners monitor the app throughout the day and reallocate staffing resources based on breaks remaining to be taken. We monitor weekly trends and talk directly with staff members who don't take assigned breaks to ensure they have a chance to reset and recharge. Matt Lucas, BSN, RN, CNOR Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt Nashville, Tenn. matthew.r.lucas@vumc.org CLOCK OUT The Break Tracker app makes sure all staff members receive much-needed respites. Matt Lucas, BSN, RN, CNOR

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