SECURING BELONGINGS
Keep Patient Valuables In Locked Garment Bags
We tell our patients to leave their valuables at home, but of course many arrive for surgery with jewelry, cash and other valuables. Instead of asking our security personnel to come to pre-op, tally up the items and secure the valuables, we let patients secure their valuables in garment bags and then lock them with plastic, tamper-proof, disposable locks . Once you break the lock, you can't re-attach it. We record the lock numbers in their medical records and keep bags in a secure area not accessible to other patients or the public. Post-operatively, we return the garment bags to patients, who check the lock numbers and open the locks. The costs are nominal: 15 ? for each lock and $1.63 for each garment bag.

Caroline Bogart, RN, BSN, MS
Barnabas Health Ambulatory Surgery Center
Livingston, N.J.
[email protected]