Center in Muskogee,
Okla., they've pro-
grammed a string of
beepers to page all
members of the
turnover team at once.
The circulator enters
"222" for room 2, "333"
for room 3 and so on.
"This notifies our
housekeeping staff,
OR charge nurse and
PACU staff that the
patient is coming off
the table," says
Patricia Huber, MA,
RN, the nurse manager
of perioperative servic-
es. The turnover team,
plus any roamers, con-
verges on the OR that
is coming out to assist
with turnover. "Our
PACU staff also appre-
ciates the heads-up
that a patient is com-
ing," says Ms. Huber,
adding that they've
lowered the average
turnover times from 42
T U R N O V E R