1. Little things added up to big things. For example,
patients moving from pre-op to the OR, and from the OR to the PACU
were having different types and sizes of EKG leads, blood pressure
cuffs and pulse oximeters attached and fully removed at every stop
along the way. The solution was to create a series of adapters that
made it possible to simply disconnect and reconnect patients as they
moved from station to
station. "Now, the
blood pressure cuff
stays on and rolls with
the patient through the
entire process," says
Paul Higgins, BSN,
RN, CNOR, business
manager for periopera-
tive services at Poudre
Valley.
2. Duplication of
effort is a big
time-waster. One
of the first things the
observers saw was
that communication
had to improve. There
had to be a better
understanding of who
was doing what. "We
would wipe off the
back table 3 times,
given the opportunity,"
says Mr. Higgins. "We
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O U T PAT 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 | February 2015
