turnovers looked like when she worked at a large academic
facility.
"Even on big cases," says Ms. De Vito, today
an OR nurse at Dignity Health Dominican
Hospital in Santa Cruz, Calif. "It was fun,
seriously. We treated it like a pit stop in
a car race."
It became a race against the clock,
a competition. A man from environ-
mental services they called Coach
stood at the OR door with a stop-
watch. But he didn't measure
wheels out to wheels in. He start-
ed his stopwatch the second the
turnover team descended on the
room and stopped it when the
room was restocked and ready for
the next patient — whenever that
might be.
Put an asterisk next to 3-minute
turnovers if you will, but a turnover
team can only control how fast it runs
its leg of the relay race. Among other
things, opening after cleaning will
depend on your cleaning products (aque-
ous-based remove blood faster than alco-
hol-based agents), your disinfectant dwell
• FAST AND FURIOUS Decreasing turnover time is a constant challenge. Are
lightning-fast turnovers possible?
D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 8 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y. N E T • 4 3
