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M A R C H 2 0 1 6 | 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
• Double up on dispensers. Installing
hand sanitizer dispensers inside your ORs
as well as outside of them, at the scrub
stations, will bring about a dual infection
prevention benefit. First, it'll make sure
that compliance is close at hand, no mat-
ter which side of the doors your surgical
staffers are on. And second, it will limit
exits from and entries into the rooms,
since OR traffic is a potential source of
SSIs.
• Always on hand. Making hand hygiene oppor-
tunities convenient will make hand hygiene com-
pliance rise. Some facilities have seen improve-
ment after issuing travel-size, clip-on bottles of
hand sanitizer to each nurse and tech, to wear on
their scrubs. Another way to ensure the disinfec-
tion of digits between patient contacts is to keep
pump bottles of the gel in IV kit baskets, so your
staff can sanitize without interrupting the process.
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