A U G U S T 2 0 1 7 O U T P A T I E N TS U R G E R Y. N E T 6 9
I
magine going to see Wonder Woman and not moving once during the 2-
hour, 21-minute film. That's right, you'd never cross or uncross your legs
or shift your weight from one cheek to the other. Sounds brutally painful,
right? That's how your patients would feel on the OR table if they were
conscious.
"Pain is protective," says Bradford Tucker, MD, an assistant professor of ortho-
pedic surgery at Thomas Jefferson University and a sports medicine surgeon at
the Rothman Institute in Philadelphia, Pa. "When patients are asleep, they don't
Positioned for Success
• POSITIVE START Make sure bony promi-
nences are padded and nerves are protected
every time you position patients.
Efforts to protect patients and maximize
access start before the first incision.
Daniel Cook | Executive Editor
Pamela
Bevelhymer,
RN,
BSN,
CNOR
