OSE_1301_part2_Layout 1 1/11/13 10:56 AM Page 79
O P H T H A L M O L O G Y
operated-on patient to the post-op area, leaving the 2 scrub techs to prep the room for the
next case. Meanwhile, the roving circulator,
who's finished helping set up the second
room's case, returns to lend a hand. With the
roving circulator floating back and forth
between the 2 rooms, a 3-member team is
always working on turnovers.
3. Patient staging
To keep patients flowing smoothly — we have
as many as 7 patients in pre-op at any given
time ready for transport to the OR, and
they're picked up every 10 to 15 minutes —
administer dilating eye drops as soon as they
arrive, and ask them to remove street clothes
only from the waist up.
Have a patient in each procedure room at all
times, and position next-in-line patients outside the rooms in wheelchairs (or stretcher
chairs) accompanied by a nurse or nursing
assistant. When the previous case is completed and that patient is moved immediately to
PACU, turn over the room quickly, wheel the
J A N U A R Y 2013 | 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
7 9
