Keep Connections With Colleagues on Your Radar
Spring is the season for conferences and live events, which can go a very long way toward revitalizing your outlook....
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By: OSD Staff
Published: 12/2/2008
Not long ago, only the OR staff wore surgical scrubs. Nowadays, it seems like most of the hospital staff is wearing scrubs — clinical and non-clinical staff alike, in and out of the facility, even at the diner across the street. Here at Beth Israel Medical Center, we've come up with a simple solution to help ensure that our 31 ORs remain sterile: All the staff in the OR, and only the OR staff, wear purple scrubs. The idea is to make it easy to tell if a surgical staffer wanders out of the OR. We've even instructed our security guards not to let anybody in purple scrubs enter or exit the building. We picked purple for two reasons. One, blue and green scrubs are worn throughout many other areas of the hospital. And two, we asked our nurses what color they liked best: Purple won out. Purple scrubs have become special, only for the privileged few who work in the OR. (Vendors in the OR wear disposable dark blue scrubs.)
Donald M. Kastenbaum, MD
Vice Chairman of the Department of Orthopedic Surgery
Beth Israel Medical Center
New York, N.Y.
[email protected]
The Power of Parental Presence at Induction
Reducing the anxiety of pediatric patients is an essential part of our care, and what's more comforting than a squeeze from Mom or Dad? We've recently invited parents to accompany their children into the OR and remain with them during anesthesia induction. The program demands a great deal of coordination between surgical staff, anesthesia providers and facility volunteers.
Leigh Johnson
Child Life Specialist
Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario
Ottawa, Canada
[email protected]
Publish Your Own Facility Newsletter
To improve communication between physicians, RNs, CNAs, med techs and ancillary staff in a busy GI center, I created a bi-weekly newsletter, The Endo Times.
The one-page publication began in May 2008 as a list of birthdays, introductions of new employees and a feature on Joint Commission National Patient Safety Goals (NPSG). Response was overwhelmingly positive. People wanted to know when the next issue would be published.
The newsletter has become more sophisticated as I've become more techno-savvy. In addition to the NPSG feature, we've run a "Prep School" column with reviews of colon preps; "Colon College" with an overview of bowel disorders; "Gut Words" with definitions of GI-specific terminology; and "In the Spotlight," which focuses on different departments. Most recently, we featured our reprocessing techs. Mixed in with technical articles are short blurbs about upcoming activities, fire safety and staff "shout outs" for those who've gone above and beyond. Sometimes, I include quizzes or activities that require staff to respond in order to earn small prizes.
I spend four to six hours researching, editing and proofing each issue. The stories are short and, whenever possible, amusing. I print on brightly colored paper and hand out copies to every employee and physician.
Michelle Sparrow, BSN, RN
Clinical Educator
Pennsylvania Hospital Gastrointestinal Associates
Washington Square Endoscopy Center
Philadelphia, Pa.
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