4 8 S U P P L E M E N T T O 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 M A Y 2 0 1 7
T
o a surgeon, the 30 or so seconds it takes
to apply a skin prep can seem like a long
time. The 3 minutes he must wait for the
prep to dry before you can drape the
patient? That must feel like an eternity.
The surgeon understands that prepping must occur, but
also likes to be time efficient, and may at times may ask
the OR team to drape earlier than the needed 3-minute
wait time.
Of course, we all know that prepping the skin with an
• NO TURNING BACK Once you've moved to
the periphery with your prep, you don't want to
go back to the incision site.
Pamela
Bevelhymer,
RN,
BSN,
CNOR
Teresa A. Glandorf,
BSN, RN, CNOR
Round Rock, Texas
How to convince your surgeons and staff that
a proper skin prep can't be rushed.
M A K E N O M I S T A K E
Prepping the Skin Takes Time
