from the field. They perform a closing count of the main table, and
then move that table to the back of the room. The scrubbed-in staff
remove their gloves and gowns and put on new ones. They re-drape
the field, and use clean sutures and dressing to close the case. Though
the change took a little getting used to, the idea of removing the dirty
instruments and garments in exchange for clean ones after finishing
the contaminated part of the procedure became second nature after a
few cases. It's a small step, but one we credit for our dramatic
improvement in our SSI rates.
Impressive results
Did our interventions work? I'd sure say so. Surgical site infections
dropped from 13 in quarter 1 of 2015 to zero in quarter 1 of 2018,
while our abdominal hysterectomy SSIs dropped from 2 to 0.
OSM
8 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 • J u l y 2 0 1 8
Ms. Mahoney (cmahoney@gbmc.org) is the clinical director of the gynecologic
operating room at Greater Baltimore Medical Center in Towson, Md.
