A
t Mercy Tiffin,
a rural com-
munity hospi-
tal in Tiffin,
Ohio, with a
separate ASC attached, the
key to driving down post-
op surgical site infection
rates was to use a compre-
hensive approach. Joan
Conine, BSN, RN, CNOR,
RNFA, needed buy-in from
everyone, and she got it —
a remarkable top-to-bottom
effort that earned the 2015
OR Excellence Award for
Infection Prevention.
"It wasn't just the OR, it
wasn't just pre-op and it
wasn't just central process-
ing," says Ms. Conine, the hospital's manager of perioperative servic-
es. "The entire staff took ownership: surgery techs, nurses, central
processing, surgeons, environmental services, plant operations, infec-
tion control, quality and risk. Everybody. That's how we were able to
move forward so quickly."
8 9
S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 5 | O U T P A T I E N T S U R G E R Y . N E T
O R E X C E L L E N C E AWA R D S
SSI Prevention
A back-to-basics approach curbs the infection rate at
Mercy Tiffin Hospital.
Susan
Predmore
z NO RIGHT TO BARE ARMS
As a result of the initiative,
pre-op nurses always wear
long sleeves and gloves while
prepping patients.
