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That gave us an idea. To make identification easier, we started using
color-coded scrubs for all members of our team — surgeons, anesthesia
providers, vendors and all the other disciplines within the hospital.
It helps in several ways. We educate patients before they come in,
and again in pre-op, so they always know whom they're talking to. For
example, in pre-op, the nurse will tell the patient, "An anesthesiologist
will be stopping by to speak to you, and he'll have a black uniform
on." Later, if there's any question, the nurse can ask, "Did someone in
black come and talk to you?"
It helps with vendors, too. Since the scrubs we have them wear are
gray, instead of the traditional green, we can know for sure whether
they've changed into sterile scrubs since they arrived. Color-coding
has even helped us identify each other. Ours is a relatively new facility,
so we have a lot of staff members who'd never worked together before.
Diane Doucette, RN, MBA
Mount Carmel New Albany Surgical Hospital
New Albany, Ohio
ddoucette@mchs.com
