1 6 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • M A Y 2 0 2 0
Ideas Work
That
A
one-word
sign on a fleet
of fluid waste
management carts
lets your OR team
know which devices
have been emptied
and cleaned and
which ones haven't.
After we transi-
tioned to a new fleet
of carts last year,
our patient care
technicians were
assigned the task of
emptying and clean-
ing the machines. To
alert the OR staff to
the status of each device, the techs came up with a simple-yet-
effective solution: They hang a "Clean" sign on a cart's pole to let
everyone know the unit is ready to use. If the sign isn't on the
pole, staff know the cart is temporarily out of commission until
it's been emptied and cleaned.
Caryn Solomon, MA, BSN, RN
Westchester Medical Center Health Network
Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
caryn.solomon@wmchealth.org
Simple Sign Tags Fluid Carts as Ready to Roll
• FLUID SITUATION Patient Care Technician Laura Fleming shows how one-
word signs at a four-OR multi-specialty ASC quickly allow members of the OR
teams to know which of their several mobile fluid waste management carts are
ready to use.
MidHudson
Regional
Hospital