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2013
Awards
require pain-rescue medication and
they're not paralyzed during surgery,
"so they would let us know if they
did."
Put Away the Pills!
Andrews Institute Ambulatory
Surgery Center,
Gulf Breeze, Fla.
Fewer and fewer of the center's
patients are ending up using narcotics, thanks to the facility's doublebarreled approach, says QA coordinator Barbara J. Holder, RN, BSN,
LHRM. A combination of regional
blocks and intraoperative administration of Ofirmev (acetaminophen) have
steadily reduced the need for narcotics — from 11.74% of patients in
2010, to 9.37% in 2011, to 6.99% in
2012.
IV Idea is a Winner
UAB Callahan Eye Hospital,
Birmingham, Ala.
The hospital used to rely on CRNAs
to begin all IVs in pre-op, says chief
nurse executive Myra Aultman,
CRNA, MNA, MSHA. But with the
8 8
benefit of some instruction from
those CRNAs, pre-op RNs now start
them, after delivering a small intradermal dose of lidocaine. The result?
Patients who fill out satisfaction surveys and those who are interviewed
via post-anesthesia phone calls
agree: Their IV starts were painless!
New Data on the Blocks
Presidio Surgery Center, San
Francisco, Calif.
Administering blocks, an essential element in quick and painless recoveries,
requires both practice and skill. So,
explains administrator Jessie Scott,
MBA, the center worked with anesthesia leaders to identify key questions nurses could ask during post-op
calls. The goal was to determine
which anesthesiologists were most
often successful and which were
struggling. Based on those results, the
center is working on pinpointing best
practices, determining which anesthesiologists might need additional training and which might not be suited to
the outpatient environment.
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 | S E P T E M B E R 2013
