gical services. That's a
fancy way of saying
she's the liaison
between infection pre-
vention and the OR at
a Level 1 Trauma
Center with 28 surgi-
cal suites servicing
various specialties —
such as adult and
pediatric cardiovascu-
lar services, heart,
kidney and lung trans-
plantation, neuro,
orthopedics, vascular, thoracic, general, gynecology, urology, robotic,
plastic, ENT, ophthalmology and trauma services — that last year per-
formed more than 24,000 surgeries.
The reason for her newly created, 3-days-a-week position? "The
hospital was so busy that they wanted to have more collaboration
with infection control," says Ms. Haberkorn, winner of the OR
Excellence Award for SSI Prevention for her persistence and
enthusiasm in driving down infections. Ms. Haberkorn performs
surveillance for infections within the surgical division and incor-
porates the latest standards, according to evidenced-based litera-
ture, identifying potential barriers in infection control practices.
She rounds in all areas, including day surgery, holding, OR and
PACU, to identify potentially unsafe practices and improve them.
She reviews departmental policies and updates and educates staff
about infection control practices. Among her many accomplish-
ments:
7 0 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 7
• CHG WIPES All patients receive a chlorhexidine bath with warm saturated wipes
in the pre-op area.
Tracy
Haberkorn,
RN,
BSN,
MS,
CNOR
