Outpatient Surgery Magazine - Subscribers

No More Never Events - February 2014 - 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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1 4 1 F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 4 | O U T P AT 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 BEHIND CLOSED DOORS • Scrubbing in at the rest stop. During a recent highway pit stop, I washed my hands at one of those sinks where the faucet was operat- ed by a motion detector that turns the water on. It's a great idea for public restrooms. I wondered if it had ever been put to use in surgical scrub sinks: that might make things easier. As I finished rinsing, the water was still running and I noticed that my right leg jumped up, as if by reflex, searching for the place where I'd normally turn the water off. Lord knows what OR I thought I was going into. • Got to keep all that hair covered. It's winter in Connecticut, which is like winter everywhere else, only more so, since it's in New England. One morning, after pulling a knit hat onto my head and over my ears, I felt this mandatory urge to put on a second hat, since the first one was not a blue bouffant. • A new non-latex alternative? Wearing any kind of gloves evokes even more automatic behavior. At Christmas I received some nice, extra- long leather gloves that cover my wrists. As soon as I tried on the first one, the right-hand glove, I realized I was donning it like sterile latex. • Elbow grease. When I'm cleaning up in the kitchen, I find myself wiping down surfaces with Clorox wipes pretty much as thoroughly as I do with those sanitizing wipes at work. You never know when surveyors might be watching. • Orderly attire. Any nurse worth her salt knows the importance of organization. About 99% of the OR nurses I've worked with routinely set out their prepping and back table supplies in order of usage to make sure they won't skip a step when getting a patient ready for cut time. I do the same thing with clothing, laying them out in the order in which I plan to put them on. (And don't even get me started on how hoarding habits cross over from work to home.) OSM Ms. Watkins can be reached at pwatk ins12@comcast.net . OSE_1402_part3_Layout 1 2/6/14 3:03 PM Page 141

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