S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 7 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y. N E T • 1 9
W
e call them task cards, and I
call them "a surveyor and sit-
uation life saver." We keep 6
of these laminated, color-coded task
cards on a key ring in each department
— business office, pre-op, OR, post-op
and maintenance, for example — and
each card gives
staff a clear
understand-
ing of their
responsibili-
ties in
response
to an emer-
gency situation: fire (red),
bomb (black), disaster
(green), active shooter (gray/silver),
severe weather (brown) and violence/security threat (white). In addi-
tion to their role in securing the safety of patients and staff, the task
cards have helped to eliminate the "I don't know" answer to surveyors.
If a surveyor comes in and addresses the staff with a question about
how they would handle a particular situation, the staffer can refer to
the task card and provide specific steps for exactly how they would
respond.
Barbara J. Holder, RN, BSN, LHRM, CAPA
Andrews Institute Ambulatory Surgery Center
Gulf Breeze, Fla.
bholder@andrewsinstitutesc.com
How to Respond in an Emergency
EASY TASK Pre-op nurse Donna Barthes, RN, PAT,
reviews the color-coded task cards.
Andrews
Institute
Ambulatory
Surgery
Center