Outpatient Surgery Magazine

Pushing For Change - July 2020 - Subscribe to Outpatient Surgery Magazine

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/1268525

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 16 of 110

J U L Y 2 0 2 0 • O U T P A T I E N T S U R G E R Y . N E T • 1 7 A fter gynecological procedures such as hysterectomies, sur- geons place vaginal packing to stop excessive bleeding. But how are physicians and even patients to know that the packing is in place during follow-up care? This issue must be addressed because vaginal packing that remains inside the body can lead to sepsis and infection. We decided to use bright orange wristbands with the word "packing" printed on them to alert providers and patients that packing has been used. A single band is applied to the patient for each packing that's placed, and it remains in place until the packing is removed per physicians' orders. The wristbands are easy to make with a label maker or per- manent marker. Since rolling out the project in 2017, we've had no incidences of packing inadvertently left in place. Julie McDonald, RN, CNOR Silver Cross Hospital New Lenox, Ill. jmcdonald@silvercross.org COLORFUL CUE Julie McDonald, RN, CNOR, helped design the bright orange wristbands with the word "packing" printed on them. VISUAL ALERT Wristbands Identify Patients With Vaginal Packing

Articles in this issue

Links on this page

Archives of this issue

view archives of Outpatient Surgery Magazine - Pushing For Change - July 2020 - Subscribe to Outpatient Surgery Magazine