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/1335688
A D V E R T O R I A L Paent safety, which is always top of mind for hos pitals and surgery centers, has become an even greater challenge as healthcare providers care for paents during the COVID19 pandemic. In response to the pandemic, many new safety proto cols have been created. This has placed greater stress and responsibility on healthcare providers as they weave these protocols into their already busy workflows to ensure all paents receive the care they deserve. Many facilies have implemented addional soluons that may help reduce the risk of complicaons and improve workflow. This involves implemenng evidencebased pracces and consis tent protocols for each paent that comes in for surgery. Paent temperature management and skin and nasal decolonizaon are examples of standard pro tocols that can be applied consistently to paents to help reduce the risk of surgical complicaons. In fact, clinical evidence clearly supports the important role these protocols play in preoperave paent preparaon, contribung to improved paent out comes 17 . In the area of temperature management, for exam ple, it is highly important to maintain a normal core temperature before, during and a!er surgery. Even a minor drop in core body temperature can result in unintended perioperave hypothermia. This is a common, yet preventable complicaon associated with an increased risk of surgical site infecon (SSI) 1 3 , longer length of stay 4 , delayed wound healing 3 , and other costly, potenally deadly consequences. Another area of focus is skin and nasal decoloniza on. The CDC recommends decolonizaon of surgi cal paents during high risk surgeries 4 , using both CHG bathing and either an anbioc or an ansepc for S. aureus nasal decolonizaon. Use of an Iodophor ansepc for decolonizaon preoperave ly addresses mulple concerns: • Use of an Iodophor ansepc preoperavely allows the clinician to oversee applicaon and ensure compliance. 5 • Paents who require urgent or emergent inter venon can be decolonized with a single dose of an Iodophor ansepc rather than the 5day anbioc protocol. • Use of an ansepc supports anbioc steward ship iniaves. • In addion, removing the nasal screening step. 8 While the current healthcare environment is unique, paent safety and treang paents with the highest level of care to reduce complicaons are sll the most important parts of the paent journey – from paent preparaon to surgical intervenon to paent recovery. 3M is here to help. We offer clini cally proven soluons to help reduce risk and pro tect you and your paents throughout the surgical journey. 3M also offers a wide array of connuing educaon classes, covering topics that are relevant to your clinical pracce online through our 3M SM Health Care Academy. Reducing Complicaons During Surgery – Through COVID and Beyond Kimberly Prinsen, RN, MSN, is a nurse with over 36 years of experience in the periopera!ve specialty. Prior to joining 3M as an Advanced Clinical Applica!ons Specialist in the Medical Solu!ons Division she served as a Clinical Director of Surgical Services. 1. Melling AC, Ali B, Sco EM, Leaper DJ. Effects of preoperave warming on the incidence of wound infecon a!er a clean surgery: a randomized con trolled trial. Lancet. 2001;358(9285):876 880 2. Kurz A, Sessler DI, et al. Perioperave Normothermia to Reduce the Incidence of Surgical Wound Infecon and Shorten Hospitalizaon. New Engl J Med. 1996;334:12091215 3. Bush H Jr., Hydo J, Fischer E, et al. Hypothermia during elecve abdominal aorc aneurysm repair: The high price of avoidable morbidity. J Vasc Surg. 1995;21(3):392402 4. Centers for Disease Control. Strategies to Prevent Hospitalonset Staphylococcus aureus Bloodstream Infecons in Acute Care Facilies. hps://www.cdc.gov/hai/prevent/staph prevenonstrategies.html Accessed October 7, 2019 5. Phillips M, Rosenberg A, Shopsin B, et al. Prevenng surgical site infecons: A randomized, openlabel trial of nasal mupirocin ointment and nasal povi doneiodine soluon. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2014;35(7):826832. 6. Urias DS, Varghese M, Simunich T, Morrissey S, Dumire R. Preoperave decol onizaon to reduce infecons in urgent lower extremity repairs. European J of Trauma and Emerg Surg. 2018:17. doi:10.1007/s0006801708961 7. Torres EG, LindmairSnell JM, Langan JW, Burnikel BG. Is preoperave nasal povidoneiodine as efficient and costeffecve as standard methicillinresis tant Staphylococcus aureus screening protocol in total joint arthroplasty? J Arthroplasty. 2016; 31: 215218. 8. Engelman DT, Arora RC. Commentary: Rethinking surgical protocols in the C OVID19 era. J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg. 2020;160(2):e41. doi:10.1016/j.jtcvs.2020.04.015