Outpatient Surgery Magazine - Subscribers

Snuffing Out Surgical Smoke - Outpatient Surgery Magazine - December 2019

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

Issue link: http://outpatientsurgery.uberflip.com/i/1191268

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 17 of 156

1 8 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 9 N ear the end of the day, 6 recovery room nurses were standing around the PACU desk chatting it up. Not one of them was doing chart reviews or making follow-up calls or doing, well, anything at all. They were simply biding their time until the shift was over instead of mak- ing the most of even the tiniest windows of extra time. How? By fol- lowing the 2-Minute Rule. In the world of self-help, the 2-Minute Rule refers to bestselling author (Getting Things Done) David Allen's philosophy that if a task on your to-do list takes less than 2 minutes to accomplish, you should do it right away and avoid putting it off. Here are just a few of the tasks your staff can accomplish in a mere 120 seconds of downtime. Make a single follow-up phone call. With overall patient experi- ence playing a pivotal role for outpatient facilities everywhere, staff should always make follow-up phone calls. This is a perfect task to knock out if you find yourself with 2 minutes to spare. To avoid wasting your time during these rare windows of downtime, make sure to set yourself up for success during the admission process. You 1 Knock Tasks Down With the 2-Minute Rule You and your staff can get a lot done in 120-second increments. Staffing Ann Geier, MS, RN, CNOR, CASC • DOWNTIME If your staff has a few minutes of downtime between cases, it's a prime opportunity to knock out small but critical tasks.

Articles in this issue

Archives of this issue

view archives of Outpatient Surgery Magazine - Subscribers - Snuffing Out Surgical Smoke - Outpatient Surgery Magazine - December 2019