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SAFETY
staff should respond with urgency and move at a pace reserved for a real emergency. Going through the motions or joking around during the drill's critical
moments renders the time useless. Another important point: Have a member of
your staff actually pull the fire alarm. It's something they've probably never done
before and it takes more force than they might think.
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Debrief. This is a critical step. Take a few minutes to discuss the drill with
the surgical team in the meeting area as soon as the event concludes.
What went right? What could have gone better? Did staff have the equipment
they needed, and were they able to move patients to safety in a timely manner?
It's during this time, when things are still fresh in everyone's mind, that you'll
identify key areas of needed improvement. For example, we had communication issues due to glitches in the hospital's intercom system that needed to be
fixed. That was a highly valuable discovery that could have been quite challenging if we had to navigate without it during a real fire.
Practice makes perfect
Announced and planned fire drills are extremely effective. You'll find that staff
are engaged in the process, take away many valuable lessons and discuss the
event for days afterward, sharing ways to improve. Staged drills let them go
through fire responses successfully, giving them confidence in their emergencyresponse roles. OSM
Ms. Rideout (rideoutd@southcoast.org) is director of perioperative services at
Southcoast Health System in New Bedford, Mass.a
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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 | N O V E M B E R 2012
