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Once we implemented the new policy, we also updated our surgeon
preference cards, so they always have all the items they want,
whether they're in the dedicated pack or need to be brought in sepa-
rately.
The benefits have been numerous:
• We're able to turn rooms over faster, because we're opening far
fewer extra items — in addition to the pack, usually only sutures,
gloves and 1 or 2 instruments that a particular surgeon might prefer.
• During cases, the circulator rarely has to fetch additional supplies,
so traffic in and out of the OR is minimized, time is saved and the
threat of infections is reduced.
• We save money on supplies, because we're no longer paying for
the items that too often ended up being thrown away. In fact, we cal-
culated that in the first year after we implemented our "Leader of the
Pack" policy, we saved more than $29,000.
Heather Burggraf, CST, AAS
Jaime Williams, CST
Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital
Greensboro, N.C.
heather.burggraf@gmail.com
