prep to have her arms
fully covered to con-
tain shedded skin par-
ticles. Whenever
AORN puts out or
revises a practice
standard, it's evi-
dence-based, so our
goal is to meet that
guideline. Of course,
these guidelines don't
tell you every granular
detail of what you
need to do. It's up to you to figure out a way to make everything work
in your specific setting. For us, that meant some trial and error. We
knew we wanted to have the staff who did the actual prepping wear
something that made them stand out from the rest of the team in the
OR. After all, the Joint Commission requires you to have some way of
signifying a critical process is taking place; a designated skin prep
gown certainly checks that box. But it took a little while to settle on
what we wanted them to wear.
Initially, we tried disposable scrub jackets, which we found were too
baggy and loose for the prepping task. We ultimately settled on a
level-3 gown, which was more convenient and appropriate for staff to
wear. Plus, at $1 to $1.50 per gown, it was a cheaper option.
The vendor we went with is very committed to breast cancer aware-
ness, so the gowns are pink — a color that really stands out from the
rest of the blue scrubs in the OR. When a nurse dons a pink gown in
our ORs, the surgical team knows she's there for one critical task: to
prep the patient for surgery with a surgeon-approved skin prep anti-
5 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 • D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 9
• A LEG UP The longer you prep, the better you're able to reach the deeper skin lay-
ers.
Pamela
Bevelhymer,
RN,
BSN,
CNOR
