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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 | F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 5
T
here's no handbook on proper OR behavior, so where do you
turn for guidance? For starters, imagine if you were the
patient. "How would you want the people working on you to
treat one another? Professional, respectful, cooperative and diplomat-
ic," says Faris Zureikat, MBA, CASC, the administrator of North Texas
Surgery Center in Dallas.
If you've recognized a lack of politeness and respect among some
members of your surgical team, what's the best way to enforce expec-
tations of on-the-job behavior? "We have a code of conduct. There has
to be zero tolerance for unprofessional behavior, both for the staff
and surgeons," says Sally Ryder, RN, CNOR, CNML, clinical coordina-
tor at Grand View Hospital's Harleysville (Pa.) Outpatient Center.
To clearly communicate the need for and goals of professionalism,
some say it's best to build one through a consensus effort.
"Get a group together and let them define their own code of con-
duct, using whatever facility policy is already out there as a starting
point," says Shirley Lewis, RN, surgical services manager at Tanner
Medical Center Villa Rica in Georgia. "The staff have then developed
their own [code], to which they can sign and pledge."
"Unfortunately, you don't have to spend too much time in an operating
room to witness unprofessional behavior," says Christian Clark, RHIA,
CNIM, clinical manager at St. Thomas Hospital for Spinal Surgery in
Nashville, Tenn., who cites management guru Peter Drucker's adage that
intelligence is no substitute for manners, as well as etiquette guru Emily
Post's definition of manners as "a sensitive awareness of the feelings of
others. If you have that awareness, you have good manners, no matter
what fork you use."
— David Bernard
S U R G E O N S ' L O U N G E
In Search of a Surgical Code of Conduct
Or EtiquEttE