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ers, cautery units and smoke evacuators. The only cord left on the
floor is the one used to plug in the surgical table. "Cord congestion is
greatly reduced from how we worked before," says Susan Stevens,
RN, BScN, perioperative manager at Belleville General.
The redesign also included installation of a dedicated elevator that
runs between the reprocessing department and center core. No, you
don't have to rip down walls to realize the same supply decluttering
benefits: When the hospital restructured how instruments move
between the departments, they also took the much-needed opportuni-
ty to determine which supplies they used most often. The reevaluation
identified which supplies should be kept in the ORs, and which could
be moved to general storage until they were needed for specific cases.
"Every supply cart has been reviewed and redesigned — made small-
er — making them much easier for the reprocessing staff to push to
central core," says Ms. Cruess. Streamlining the supplies also limited
S T A F F S A T I S F A C T I O N
HOME SWEET HOME The new ORs at Belleville General
Hospital were designed with staff and surgeon comfort in mind.
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