nasal betadine
swab.
Implant patients
have a greater risk
of developing SSIs.
When a patient with
an implant develops
an SSI, she might
have to have the
implant removed
and replaced, which
prolongs hospitaliza-
tion. While an SSI
has a financial impact no matter the case, the cost is significantly
higher with implant recipients. Additional costs of an SSI in these
patients can range upwards of $25,000 to $30,000.
While the MRSA screening initiative focuses on the implant patients,
the process can be easily adapted to all patients if the need arises.
Once we decided to move forward with the MRSA screening
process, the challenges were significant and sometimes surprising. We
do about 1000 surgeries a month. Of those, about 100 are implant
patients.
To move this new screening process forward, we needed to engage
and educate every nurse, surgeon and anesthesiologist. As a clinical
nurse specialist in perioperative services, I collaborated with our
physician leadership to attend all the division meetings. The entire
team needed to understand what the bundle was and the implication
of the practice change. If there was an orthopedics meeting at 6 in the
morning, we were there. If there was a general surgery meeting at 6 in
the evening, we made sure to go. For our nurses, we rolled out web-
6 2 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • M a r c h 2 0 1 7
• NOSE SWAB A pre-op nurse administers
a topical antiseptic to a patient.
Baylor
Orthopedic
&
Spine
Hospital
