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S H A R P S
S A F E T Y
transport to the reprocessing department.
Organize used instruments and place the
instruments back in trays just like they
were delivered to the OR, so reprocessing
techs don't have to separate a tangle of dangerous sharps. Because the tray was
returned carelessly in this scenario, the tech
should have used another instrument,
instead of his fingers, to separate and sort
the items.
The reprocessing department's supervisor
wasn't able to identify from which OR the
instruments came. Avoid similar issues in
your facility by having a system in place to
link instrument sets to particular cases,
whether that involves dropping a note with
the case number on the used instruments or
some sort of color-coded magnet that's stuck
to trays before they leave the ORs.
The distracted
anesthesiologist
A 54-year-old patient is being prepared for a
left inguinal hernia repair. The patient has a
O U T PAT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E | J A N U A R Y 2013
