3 Surgical Attire Battles Worth Fighting For
Breaks in these safe attire practices could harm patients.
W
hen your surgeons and staff don't follow correct attire
practices, such as completely covering the hair and not
wearing scrubs outside the OR, they're endangering
patients by putting them at risk for an infection. Needlessly so.
We may not have all the answers when it comes to keeping our
patients safe from infections, but thanks to careful research and high-
level evidence collected over many years, there's plenty we do know.
And yet, every day, in surgical facilities all over the United States, cli-
nicians who should know better disregard some of the most basic dic-
tates and principles of infection prevention.
What can you do about it? At the very least, you can set a good
example by resolving to never let personal preference or convenience
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Infection Prevention
Lisa Spruce, DNP, RN, CNS-CP, CNOR, ACNS, ACNP, FAAN
Here are the 3 areas where I see
consistent breaks in safe surgical
attire practices: wearing skullcaps
that leave hair uncovered, laundering
scrubs at home and wearing scrubs
outside of the OR area. There is evi-
dence that these breaks could be
putting patients at risk. There is still
a struggle to achieve compliance
with these and other recommendations, as OR members refuse to
follow the recommendations based on personal preference and
not on the evidence, particularly with head covering.
— Lisa Spruce, DNP, RN, CNS-CP, CNOR, ACNS, ACNP, FAAN
Common OR
Dress Code Violations
• HEAD SCRATCHER Some surgeons strongly prefer
skullcaps, but should that trump patient safety?
Pamela
Bevelhymer,
RN,
BSN
Skullcaps Skullcaps
