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J U LY 2 0 1 4 | O U T P AT 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
text messages and X-rated "selfies" while on duty
(
tinyurl.com/m9b898f
) and the Dallas anesthesiologist who admitted
he was too busy surfing the Internet and posting on Facebook to
notice the patient's low blood-oxygen levels until 15 or 20 minutes
after she'd turned blue (
tinyurl.com/kl3d9l5
).
Pamela Ertel, RN, BSN, CNOR, RNFA, CASC, FABC, administrative
director of the Reading Hospital SurgiCenter at Spring Ridge in
Wyomissing, Pa., has attacked the distracted doctoring problem head
on.
•
Distraction-free tablets.
She issued individualized tablet computers to
her CRNAs, letting each choose which clinical software and apps
they'd need to do their jobs (read: no Facebook, no text messaging).
"Then we bought the devices and
pre-loaded them for just those uses,"
says Ms. Ertel. "That way we're sure
that the anesthesia provider looking
at a little screen during a case is con-
sulting a drug interaction guide or
other medical reference, not sending
a text message or checking social
media sites."
•
Abstinence challenge.
Ms. Ertel
issued a challenge to her OR staff:
Can you go 1 month on the job
without your gadgets? They've also
established a no-cell-phones-in-
patient-care-areas policy, "which I've
enforced and reprimanded offend-
ers over," says Ms. Ertel.
— David Bernard
They Said It
"Prevent pain,
don't chase it."
— Perry V. Ruspantine,
CRNA, APRN,
of the Cape Cod Surgery
Center in
Mashpee, Mass.,
on his preference
for pre-emptive
analgesia.
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