only if they're placed exactly where fluid pools, according to Ms.
Brunswick.
That can be tricky to determine — or to accomplish, says Diane
Gress, RN, the OR and PACU manager at Memorial Hospital and Health
Care Center in Jasper, Ind. Her staff places fluid capture rings on the
floor near surgeons, who often kick them out from underneath their
feet. Like half of the responders to our survey, her nurses must then
resort to laying blankets on the floor to sop up excess fluid. That's a
reality of working fluid-heavy cases, but it's also a definite departure
from best practice.
"It's sometimes easier to create a dam made out of blankets," says
Ms. Brunswick, "but that increases the per-pound cost of laundry, and
hauling away the wet and heavy linens can be a safety hazard for the
staff."
Factors to consider
Like two-thirds of the survey's respondents, Ms. Gress converted to a
direct-to-drain system because of concerns about her staff's well-
being. Her nurses used to carry containers full of liquid waste to the
hopper for disposal, during which they were at risk of exposure to
splashing fluid and back injury.
Only 9% of the survey's respondents say improved efficiency is the
factor that most influences their primary method of fluid waste man-
agement. Perhaps they should see what Randy Huffman, RN, MSA,
CMPE, the administrator of the Weston (Fla.) Outpatient Surgical
Center, has been able to accomplish since adding portable disposable
units a year ago to each of his 6 ORs. His staff shaved 8 minutes off
room turnover times — from 20 to 8 minutes — following fluid-heavy
cases. "When you host 40 cases a day, that really adds up," he says.
So much so that Mr. Huffman has been able to compress the sched-
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