Confront Difficult Conversations Head On
Transitioning from a perioperative nurse to a leadership role in an Ambulatory Surgery Center (ASC) presented me with numerous challenges, but none were as daunting...
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By: Melonie Marchak
Published: 10/10/2007
Our facility designed a folder to distribute to utilizing surgeons' offices. On the front of the folder is our logo and on each inside pocket a list of surgeons organized by specialty. Two pockets (one on the left inside of the folder, one on the right) contain all the pre-op forms the surgeon and patient need to complete before the patient's arrival at our surgery center. There are five pages in the left pocket for the physician to fill out:
In the right pocket, there are seven pages for the patient to fill out or read:
Using this packet system, patients need only arrive 30 minutes before a procedure with packet in hand, which occurs 97 percent of the time.
Wanda Moratelli
Business Administrator
Ambulatory Care Center
Vineland, N.J.
writeMail("[email protected]")
ID badges have multiple uses
I make staff ID badges for our surgery center using a greeting card program that came installed on my computer's hard drive. Many people have digital cameras today, so it isn't difficult to find one to use to take the pictures. Set the resolution on the camera to "high" or "best" (mine is a 2.2 mega pixel camera). If you don't have access to a digital camera, you can scan a hard copy of a photo and crop out all but the subject.
The cost is minimal because I used photo paper I already had on hand. It gives the best printing results - the ink doesn't run, the pictures look sharper and the paper lasts longer. If you're buying the paper new, you can get a 15-sheet package for about $15, and you can fit 10 badges on a sheet.
Then I just cut them to size and stick them to our proximity badges - which we use to allow and track entry into our building - using double-sided tape. Since the badges are just passed in front of a sensor, we don't have to worry about scratching them in a badge-swipe system. However, if that were a problem, we could use a clear peel-and-stick laminate that comes in a roll (cost: about $10). I use it at home for protecting some older photos that I've digitally restored.
Our customers really seem to like the badges. Our motto, "Treating patients like family," is well accepted by employees and patients. And wearing it is a great reminder of what we staff are there to do.
Another option with the ID badge is to simply cut the pictures to the desired size and laminate them, leaving a 1/8-inch border on each side of the picture. You can buy rectangular hole punchers and badge clips at any craft store or office supply store. The advantage of this option is that you can attach (either by glue stick or double-sided tape) any kind of helpful info, such as local pharmacy numbers or acronyms such as RACE (pertaining to fires). The options are only limited by the users.
Paul Bernard, RN
OR/PACU/Safety Officer
Panama City Surgery Center
Panama City, Fla.
writeMail("[email protected]")
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