Ideas That Work: Color-Coded Bedsheets Offer Instant Access to Key Info

Practical pearls from your colleagues

In a busy ophthalmic center, anything you can do to improve flow and simplify processes is worth its weight in gold. At Newsom Surgery Center of Sebring (Fla.), color-coded bedsheets serve as a great example. The sheets, which are hung on the inside end of patients’ stretchers, signal to surgeons and staff the specific cases and other related information. “At a glance, a person is able to visualize the color-coded bedsheets and see what type of lens the patient is receiving, if an additional procedure is being done and if any special instructions or instruments are required,” says Leesa R. Skipper, RN, nurse manager at Newsom Surgery Center. “This helps the circulating nurse/scrub tech team in each OR, along with the person managing the patient flow. The surgeon sees the bedsheets when they enter the OR and it gives them instant knowledge about the upcoming procedure before anyone even speaks.” Specifically, the sheets indicate:

Leesa Skipper

• Pink: Standard lens

• Blue: Upgraded lens (All of these patients have their surgery eye marked prior to surgery)

• Purple: LAL IOL

• Green: Glaucoma procedure

• Gold: Special instruction sheet OSM