place in the relatively quiet few minutes before the patient enters the
room. If that's not possible, a second nurse could assist with patient
positioning and induction while the primary circulating nurse focuses
her complete attention on the initial count. That simple step mini-
mizes multi-tasking and distractions during this critical time.
And don't try to remember and count at the same time. A good prac-
tice is to record one count before starting the next. Studies show that
when our brains switch between counting and remembering, we
make transcription errors.
Empower team members to speak up when one of their colleagues
is creating a distracting environment with unnecessary talking or by
playing music over the OR's sound system. Some facilities have even
flashed "INITIAL COUNT IN PROGRESS" on surgical monitors to alert the
rest of the team to keep distractions at a minimum.
OSM
M A R C H 2 0 1 7 • O U T PA T I E N TS U R G E R Y. N E T • 8 9
Ms. Fearon (mfearon@aorn.org) is a perioperative practice specialist for AORN
in Denver, Colo.
