M A Y 2 0 1 7 O U T P A T I E N TS U R G E R Y. N E T 5 3
staff meetings and daily huddles. "Hey, remember
dry time: You have to wait the full 3 minutes. If you
have issues, come tell us."
Speaking of dry time, this is where you'll really
have to hold your ground with your surgeons. It
helps to drive home the point that you're risking a
surgical fire if you don't wait the 3 minutes (or how-
ever long your prepping agent's dry time is). After
we make our final swipe with the prep stick, we
look at the clock on the wall and wait 3 minutes.
Once your surgeons understand that you're serious
and that they'll be held accountable for any breach-
es, dry time becomes an expectation. You won't
have to fight that battle anymore.
But you can still expect pushback. A podiatric sur-
geon, for example, might tell you he doesn't have to
worry about letting the prep dry because he's not
going to use a Bovie. Little does he know (until you
tell him!) that an electrical instrument such as a drill
can spark a fire.
Stop the line!
If patient safety is in jeopardy, we want our nurses
to say: "You need to stop. We need to make sure
we're doing the right thing for the patient. We need
clarity." Clarity is the password for Stop the line. In
other words, let's stop and figure out if we're about
to make a mistake.
One nurse had to stop the line in her room. Since
info13@viscot.com • 800.221.0658
www.viscot.com
ChloraPrep® is a registered trademark of CareFusion
XL Prep
Resistant Ink
XL Prep
Proven to resist all preps
...including ChloraPrep®
See demo here:
w w w.bit.ly/XL-D emo
• Meets Joint Commission's
Marking Universal Protocol
• The gold standard in correct site
marking
P
