M A Y 2 0 1 7 O U T P A T I E N TS U R G E R Y. N E T 6 1
What's the best way to make bundles work?
If you try to make too much change too quickly, your staff will push back and
lose interest. Zero in on making 3 to 4 elements of a bundle work. Additional
steps can be added later after you hardwire those initial changes into practice
and build off their successes. You also have to keep staff and surgeons engaged.
I meet with surgeons quarterly and the OR staff biannually to present infection
data and to talk about what we're going to tackle next. Everyone must feel like
they're constantly involved in the process improvement.
AORN and the American College of Surgeons recently argued
about skullcaps increasing infection risks. What do you wear?
I've worn both: whatever a facility provides. It was a power grab by both sides
and didn't have anything to do with hard data. What you wear on your head real-
ly doesn't make that much of a difference in infection rates, unless, of course,
you have a lot of hair sticking out from under the cap and falling into the surgi-
cal wound. I'd be thrilled if I had that much hair to cover.
OSM
Dr. Buhs (chad.buhs@mayo.edu) is a general surgeon affiliated with the Mayo Clinic
Health System in Mankato, Minn.
