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Outpatient Surgery Magazine, providing current information on Surgical Services, Surgical Facility Administration, Outpatient Surgery News and Trends, OR Excellence and more.

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N O V 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 • 3 7 Quiet, Please: Noise Distractions in the OR Silence is golden during the critical stages of surgery. E ver been in a really noisy OR? The surgeon's rock anthem blares, nurses discuss their weekends and the vital signs moni- tor beeps proof of life — it's so chaotically loud that it's hard to think straight. Yet this sounds like a typical OR, right? That's the problem. You might think excess noise during surgery is normal and acceptable, but just 45 decibels can impact what's heard and communi- cated among surgical team members. The Joint Commission thought the problem was enough of a concern to issue a recent safety alert centered on eliminating noise distractions in the OR. The noisiest periods of surgery occur during anesthesia induction and emergence, according to the alert. Orthopedic surgery and neuro- surgery are among the noisiest procedures with intermittent peak lev- els exceeding 100 decibels more than 40% of the time. A prospective study of hernia repairs found that noise levels were substantially high- er during the incision closures of patients who developed surgical site Safety Erin Lawler • SHHH, SURGERY IN PROGRESS Staff members who are able to concen- trate, communicate and work well with one another will provide safer care. Pamela Bevelhymer, RN, BSN, CNOR

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