Outpatient Surgery Magazine - Subscribers

Clear Cut - July 2015 - 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 1 6 O U T P A T 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 | J U LY 2 0 1 5 Shhh! Surgery in Progress Excessive noise distracts the OR team from patient care. E quipment beeps, instru- ments whir, cell phones vibrate, overhead pages boom, iPods pulsate and the conversation flows. Is it any won- der patient care sometimes gets lost in the din? If noise pollution is a problem in your ORs, here's how to turn down the volume. Quiet in the room Excess talking and noise may prevent caregivers from hearing impor- tant questions or directions. They may not be immediately aware of a negative turn in the patient's condition or able to focus on tasks during critical times in patient care: such as the patient's arrival in the OR, anesthesia induction and emergence, the pre-op time out, instrument and sponge counting, and calls from pathology. Some of those tasks may be relatively simple, but they're also extremely important. When they're being performed, you need quiet in the room so communication is effective and everyone can be heard clearly and is able to focus without interruption. As part of her research on the impact of noise pollution in the OR, one of our anesthesiologists, Rosalind Ritchie, MD, measured decibel S A F E T Y Katherine Daniels, RN z SILENT TREATMENT Yacker Trackers, stoplight noise sensors that blink at various decibel levels, remind staff to tone down their talking. University of Kentucky HealthCare

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