W
hen Stamford Health (Conn.)
discovered a lack of standardi-
zation in its skin antisepsis pro-
tocols, the OR leaders at the
facility knew they had act.
After all, inconsistency is the enemy of an effective
prepping process.
Although Stamford did have a policy in place for
skin antisepsis, pre-op practices needed to be
updated and improved upon. "There was no way of
identifying if patients were in compliance with our
requirements because there was no uniform policy
for documenting it, and no way to validate the
process if it was completed," says Racquel Swaby,
BSN, BN, CPAN, nurse manager of perioperative
services at Stamford Health. "We had long-estab-
lished pre-op prepping protocols for cardiac
patients where every patient would come in, have
their hair clipped around the surgical site and
receive CHG wipes."
But the inconsistency involved in applying the
pre-op protocols to other patients was a major
problem. The health system wanted to follow
AORN recommendations and ensure that every
patient received some form of skin antisepsis
before entering the OR, says Ms. Swaby.
With the gap in its skin prep protocols uncovered,
Stamford got to work and fixed the problem. First, it
changed its policy and required pre-op assessments
to include confirmation that all patients prepped
their skin at home with either antibacterial soap or
2% chlorhexidine gluconate (CHG) wipes. (The
4 2 • 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 • J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 1
The Skinny on Skin Prep Standardization
Consistency in tracking can prevent complacency
and bad habits from sneaking into your processes.
APPLICATION PROCESS Surgical teams must let prepping solutions dry fully before making incisions.
Jared Bilski | Managing Editor
David
Reidy/CHOC
