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No More Empty Beds - Outpatient Surgery Magazine - February 2020

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

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6 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 • F E B R U A R Y 2 0 2 0 P repping the skin before surgery seems to be a simple matter. Apply the solu- tion, let it dry and begin the operation with more confidence that the patient's surgi- cal wound will emerge infection-free. But nationwide, experts say, prepping solution is applied correctly only about half the time. The best way to boost skin prep compliance is to focus on educating sur- gical team members about proper application techniques, standardiz- ing the solutions you use and the process you've developed, and changing the culture in your ORs. Rubbing the wrong way In May 2018, we decided to take a proactive approach to improving our skin prep compliance rate. We audited 31 cases over a three-day period in order to establish our compliance baseline. To ensure an unbiased audit, we announced that we'd be observing OR practice in general, not skin prep in particular. We found our team adhered to manufacturers' IFUs for skin prep application in 45% of the cases, while meeting the dry time standard of three minutes in 52% of the Romulo T. Vallejo, MSN, RN | Orange, Calif. Are You Applying Skin Preps Properly? Address common reasons for noncompliance to reduce the risk of surgical site infections. • READY, SET, GO April Andrade, RN, BSN, stands ready to drape the patient as Tanya Muallem, RN, preps the patient.

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