Outpatient Surgery Magazine

Almost Left Behind - Subscribe to Outpatient Surgery Magazine - April 2018

Outpatient Surgery Magazine, providing current information on Surgical Services, Surgical Facility Administration, Outpatient Surgery News and Trends, OR Excellence and more.

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Though classified as a "never event," 772 incidents of retained objects were reported to the Joint Commission's sentinel event database between 2005-2012. Here are some steps we took to ensure we never send a patient home with a retained object. As you know, there are a lot of strong personalities in the OR, which can hinder good communi- cation on the team. In fact, "communication problems" have been implicated in the overwhelming majority of retained objects. The chal- lenge: How to get our staff to always speak up when they see something that con- cerns them in the OR. We first tried to lighten the task, make it less intimidating and more front of mind, with a little humor. We created buttons for everyone to wear. The buttons read: "We CUS in OR. Ask me why." It is funny, but CUS stands for something serious: • I'm Concerned • I'm Uncomfortable • This is a Safety issue Of course, it takes more than a reminder. We wanted a culture in Steps you can take 1. Encourage your team to speak up in the OR 3 6 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • A P R I L 2 0 1 8 F. Jean Campbell, MSN, RN • SPEAK UP OR Staff wear buttons that encourage them to call for a hard stop whenever they believe patient safety is being jeopardized.

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