to clean, but they became experts at reprocessing the items on our
trays. Our trays are impeccable. It's not uncommon for bone cement
or bone chips to be left on instruments that aren't properly cleaned.
Ours are always in tip-top shape.
Self-sufficient ORs
Our total joint ORs are self-sufficient. Once you're in the room,
there's little reason you'll have to leave to retrieve something. A good
example of this is that we stock each OR with all the positioning
equipment our surgeons and staff need: leg holders, leg positioners,
rolls and pillows. These items never leave the room. We store some
on a small cart and some in a supply closet in the OR, and hang oth-
ers on hooks and on the rail of a supply cart. This cuts traffic going
in and out of the room, which is especially important with joint
replacement surgery. Numerous studies have shown that door open-
ings disrupt the laminar air flow and increase the bacterial count in
the operating room.
Your surgeons' preferences impact what you'll need in the room.
Some of our docs don't like the X-ray riser on the OR table.
Depending on whether the X-ray riser is on or off, you'll need a dif-
ferent sized armboard pad. We keep different size pads in each OR
so we can quickly accommodate each surgeon and ensure the com-
fort and safety of our patients. For total knees, an X-ray riser adds a
couple inches to the OR table. Some like that added height, some
don't. If you take the X-ray riser off, the armboard pad needs to be
about 2 inches thick. When the table has a riser, the height of the
armboard pad is about 4 inches.
The centerpiece of the room
Of course, the most important piece of equipment in a total joint
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