Outpatient Surgery Magazine

Predictable, Precise Incisions - November 2012 - Outpatient Surgery Magazine

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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OSE_1211_part3_Layout 1 11/8/12 10:56 AM Page 133 SAFETY Deborah Rideout, RN, BSN, CNOR 5 Keys to Running Effective Fire Drills Treating dry runs like the real deal hammers home key lessons. A re flames likely to erupt in your ORs? No. Could they? TIME TO GO Surgical team members prepare to move a "patient" during a planned fire drill at Southcoast Health System in New Bedford, Mass. Yes, and that's why it's vitally important to run effective fire drills once a year, however remote the possibility of using the practiced responses. Here's how to ensure your staff gets the most out of preparing for when every second really does count. 1 Announce it, don't just pull the alarm. It's easy to run a conventional fire drill: Just pull the alarm and watch surprised surgical team members scramble. But that's not an effective way to practice fire safety. First, your surgical team won't get anything out of the unannounced drill, other than perhaps memories of what they did wrong and anxiety from the confusion of undefined roles. Most professionals also don't appreciate being set up to fail by "gotcha" moments, even if there are lessons to be learned from their mistakes. Announcing when drills will occur might seem counterintuitive, but having staff participate in the planning and timing of the practice runs creates team buy-in and lets them practice proper fire response protocols instead of reacting incorrectly to an ill-timed surprise. N O V E M B E R 2012 | O U T PAT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E 1 3 3

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