appliances, says Paula Jackson, BSN, RN, the robotics coordinator at
Holston Valley Medical Center in Kingsport, Tenn. Even though there's
a microwave, stove, refrigerator, blender and toaster in your kitchen,
you're only using one appliance at a time. "There's a lot of people and
a lot of equipment in the OR," says Ms. Jackson. "Thinking about
using one thing at a time relieves anxiety."
Slim Jim ORs
Ms. Wood says her nurses have a knack for interior design, swapping
out 2 tables for a table that has an upper shelf, for example, or stow-
ing the massive neuro cart that's not needed for the next case in an
empty room. "Our RNs are incredible at making the puzzle pieces fit,"
she says. "We try to utilize the equipment that we have and the space
that we have." When buying new equipment, Ms. Wood says she
insists that the new item have a smaller footprint than what it's replac-
ing.
Footprint is becoming a purchasing consideration, right up there
with price and warranty. When we asked 46 facility managers in an
online survey how important a thinner profile or a smaller footprint is
when making a capital equipment purchasing decision, all but 2 said
it's either "very important" (29) or "somewhat important" (15).
"It is distracting and cumbersome when you feel like you have to
crawl over equipment," says Ms. Razzano. "It's not safe for this type of
environment where we need to work closely and the circulator needs
to move all over the room." OSM
5 7
M A R C H 2 0 1 5 | O U T P A T I E N TS U R G E R Y. N E T
"As our service line grows, we are needing more and more
instruments in the room." — Andrea Fann, RN
E-mail doconnor@outpatientsurgery.net.
