COUNTDOWN Director of Surgical Services Heather Schimmers, RN, BSN, and OR Manager Mike Nigl, RN, BSN.

3:00 TIMER
Ensure Prep Dry Time

Waiting the 3 minutes it takes for most alcohol-based skin preps to dry can seem like an eternity to an anxious surgeon who's ready to drape the patient and begin the case. To ensure that our preps have enough time to dry, we've placed a store-bought timer in each OR — they're magnetically attached to our whiteboards. We set the timers for 3 minutes. We prep the patient, start the timer and then perform the time out. The rule is that you can't drape the patient until the timer goes off. This way, a surgeon can't pressure us into starting the case early.

Heather Schimmers, RN, BSN
Mercy Medical Center
Oshkosh, Wisc.
[email protected]