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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 | O C T O B E R 2 0 1 5
P r a c t i c a l p e a r l s f r o m y o u r c o l l e a g u e s
I D E A S T H A T W O R K
S H A R P S S A F E T Y
Orange Mats Also
Create Sterile Processing Safe Zone
O
nce the case is over, do you toss away those bright orange
mats used to designate a neutral zone for the hands-free
transfer of sharps? We found another use for them: to alert
our sterile processing staff to the presence of sharps. We place knife
handles, hooks, drill bits and all other sharps atop the orange mat so
that our SPD staff know right away there are sharps in the decontami-
nation tray.
Christopher M. Lomboy, RN, BSN, RNFA, MBA
Kaiser San Jose Medical Center Ambulatory Surgery Unit
San Jose, Calif.
chris.m.lomboy@kp.org
z SHARP ALERT An orange safety mat alerts
reprocessing techs that sharps are in the
decontamination tray.
Christopher
M.
Lomboy,
RN,
BSN,
RNFA,
MBA