1 0 5
A P R I L 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
you'll reduce the chance of an allergic reaction among patients and
staff. All it takes is for one patient to have a really bad reaction and
suffer a severe outcome for you to wish you would have undertaken
the effort to go latex-safe. Just knowing there's a chance that a patient
could suffer a full-blown reaction should serve as motivation to stan-
dardize your facility. The good news is that it's now much easier to
become latex-safe than it used to be years ago. It took many years
before the vendors got on board with producing non-latex products.
When they finally did, you had to pay a premium to get latex-free. But
after a while, costs came down and now many companies have simply
stopped making latex products. OSM
Ms. DeChesser (
ldechesser@mca os.com
) is the administrator of Middlesex
Center for Advanced Orthopedic Surgery in Middletown, Conn. She's a
licensed surveyor for the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health
Care and director of clinical services for surgery center management compa-
ny Healthcare Venture Professionals.
L A T E X A L L E R G I E S
OSE_1404_part2_Layout 1 4/4/14 2:40 PM Page 105
