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INFECTION CONTROL
smoothly.
• We changed how the OR processed information, making it easier
for staff both upstairs and downstairs to track trays as they moved
through the process. Previously, there was no clear procedure for
what happened when physicians finished cases and put equipment
back into containers and trays to send them down for decontamination. That made it nearly impossible to know where equipment was
at any given point in time. To reduce delays in receiving, we have an
OR nursing assistant check the hallway every 30 minutes for carts
ready to be sent down for decontamination. We also held an in-service for OR staff on dirty cart preparation.
• We reevaluated and improved how we pick cases and get things
ready to go up to the OR.
Worth the effort?
How much time and money are your processes wasting? Might there
be dozens of opportunities for improvement? Unless you take a long,
hard look, you may never know. OSM
Ms. Wolk (diane.wolk@jeffersonhospital.org) is in perioperative services
and an OR manager, and Mr. Delisle (dennis.delisle@
jeffersonhospital.org) is the director of operations support at the Thomas
Jefferson University Hospitals in Philadelphia, Pa.
