amount of input we
can receive and
respond to in any
given moment. In the
OR, especially at the
end of a case, the per-
son closing the
wound often is sub-
jected to a constant
barrage of activity
going on around
them. That's mentally
fatiguing and distract-
ing. It presents ample opportunity for the person holding the sharp
to lose focus and get stuck. In the OR, team members are so hyper-
focused on safely caring for the patient, they often forget to consid-
er their own well-being.
• Environmental noise. Our observations revealed there was a lot
going on during wound closure. Staff members would enter the OR to
ask questions about the next case; someone would receive a phone
call about timing for discharge to PACU; an instrument would drop
loudly onto the floor; equipment was moved from the room; there
were competing conversations and crosstalk, and music playing. Just
one unexpected noise can momentarily distract the attention of the
person closing the wound, taking them out of the moment. Even the
slightest distraction can result in an injury.
We discovered something interesting during our study: Surgical
technologists seem to suffer the least amount of sharps injuries
among all OR disciplines. When we looked at our institutional data
from 2008 to 2018, the percentage of injured surgical techs remained
J U N E 2 0 2 0 • O U T P A T I E N T S U R G E R Y . N E T • 7 5
REALITY CHECK Preventing sharps injuries demands increased awareness of the
OR environment and paying close attention to what's going on in the moment.
