D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 9 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y. N E T • 5 1
S
kin prep-
ping is
serious
business
at our
facility. So serious, in
fact, that the staff who
prep patients before
surgery wear different
colored gowns than
the rest of the OR
team. The designated
pink gowns — a visual
signal to everyone in
the OR that nurses
and doctors in pink are performing a critical process and are not a
member of the sterile field — are a part of our standardized skin prep
protocol that we rolled out in 2017. Like all changes, it hasn't always
been easy to convince staff the extra steps — not to mention attire —
were necessary. But with patience and persistence, we've managed to
ingrain these critical safety standards into the collective psyche of our
staff. Here's how we made proper skin prep a top priority, and how
you can do the same.
1. Preppers wear pink gowns.
Like the bulk of our protocols,
we started wearing designated prep gowns as a direct result of
AORN's skin antisepsis guidelines, which require the person doing the
Prepped to Perfection
How we made proper skin prepping a top priority.
Mary Wilson, BSN, RN, CNOR | Morgantown, W.Va.
• SEEING PINK Circulators wear designated pink gowns to let others in the OR know they're prepping a patient.
Brittany
Harvey,
MBA,
MSN,
RN