1 9
N O V E M B E R 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
PACKING PAPERS
Trade Your Sticky
Notes for Leftover
Sheets from Bowie-
Dick Tests
H
ere's a way to save some
money on office supplies while
helping the environment. In
Bowie-Dick test packs, the indicator
sheet used for the test is normally
packed in the middle of a thick stack
of paper. After the pack is finished
testing the sterilizer for air leaks,
most facilities simply open up the
Bowie-Dick test pack, find and check
the indicator and throw out the
excess sheets of paper. Instead, we
collect the paper and return it to the
central supply room staff. They then
divvy it up and hand out the sheets to
all departments — especially recep-
tion, pre-op and PACU. We used to
buy sticky notes, but after starting
this, we haven't had the need to buy
another pad.
Nico Pasia, BSN, RN, CNOR
Massachusetts Avenue Surgery Center
Bethesda, Md.
npasia@masssurg.com
NEAT NOTES Use
that excess paper
found in single-
use Bowie-Dick
test packs as
makeshift Post-Its.
IDEAS
That Work
