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Basics of Blocks - April 2014 - Subscribe to 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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6 2 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 | A P R I L 2 0 1 4 cians preferred. That was 2 years ago, before we volunteered to take part in the Institute for Healthcare Improvement Project JOINTS ini- tiative. Now we're seeing the benefits that come from standardizing the skin-prepping process. Not that our infection rates were ever high — they weren't — but we wanted to get the rate as close to zero as possible. And when we looked closely at what we thought the obsta- cles toward achieving that goal might be, a lack of standardization was one that was high on the list. Now, in part because of the changes we've implemented, our infection rate is below 1% and we're seeing other benefits, as well. Making the switch We were fortunate that agreeing to a standard prep wasn't as difficult as it might have been. We're primarily an orthopedic facility (more than 80% of our surgical procedures are orthopedic) and naturally there was some back-and-forth, but most of our surgeons were already believers in chlorhexidine gluconate (CHG). Still, there were a few that we need- ed to find a way to convince. We'd asked our healthcare librarian to do a literature search of relevant randomized trials and meta-analyses, and when we showed the more reluctant surgeons the data and told them we were going to be participating in the Project JOINTS initiative, they all agreed to give it a shot. Since then the feedback has all been positive. In fact, one of our sur- geons was frustrated at the time because he'd been having some infec- tions with the preps he'd been using. When we shared with him the evidence-based literature suggesting that CHG was better, he agreed to try it. Now, he's a CHG convert. Committing ourselves to the project also meant educating and enlisting the cooperation of patients, since the initiative calls for them to pre-wash surgical sites with CHG wipes for at least 3 days before S K I N P R E P P I N G © 2014 Clorox Professional Products Company. NI-24216 *Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN) Recommended Practices for Preoperative Patient Skin Antisepsis (2012) Perioperative Standards and Recommended Practices: 445-463. AORN says 2 CHG showers. Aplicare says DONE. USE 1: Night before procedure USE 2: Day of procedure 2 single-use packs attached by a perforated seal ... everything needed for 2 cleanses Designed to meet AORN guidelines for pre-procedural skin cleansing* Bilingual waterproof instructions encourage patient compliance Convenient tray included for soaking cloths introduces the 2-in-1 CHG skin cleansing kit. Get a free sample at www.AplicareCleansingKit.com. OSE_1404_part2_Layout 1 4/4/14 2:39 PM Page 62

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