A Simple Way to Start Your Own News Channel
Keep your staff in the know with a scrolling announcement board.
We mounted a monitor in the staff lounge to display scrolling digital updates on new hires, thank-yous for help on projects and policy reminders. The staff lounge serves the hospital's entire second floor (pre-op, OR, PACU, endo), so we post general as well as unit-specific announcements. We update the announcements weekly, usually on Fridays, using an office computer, then transfer the updates to a jump drive and load them onto the announcement board, which is actually just a small laptop. The laptop cost about $400 and the monitor ran about $100. An older computer loaded with PowerPoint is all you need; no Internet access is required. The PowerPoint presentation just keeps looping, so everyone has a chance to read all the slides. It takes 7 minutes to display 34 slides — making lunch or breaks the perfect time for staff to catch up on important news.

Lori Bateman,RN, MSN, CNOR
Operating Room Manager
Clarian North Medical Center
Carmel, Ind.
[email protected]

Avoid Messy Scrub Sink Syndrome
Keep an eye out for potential infection prevention issues within your infection prevention practices. For example: The traditional brush-and-water or sponge-and-water scrub generates a few pieces of waste per user, and in their efficient or hurried routines, some users just drop the packaging, the applicator and the nail pick into or by the sink. But lying around wet, those materials could harbor bacteria, and who else is going to want to pick them up and throw them away before housekeeping comes through at the end of the day? To ensure your staff disposes of their scrub waste properly, make sure it's easy and accessible for them to do so, the same way you do with used sharps and sharps disposal containers. A hands-free wastebasket nearby (with nothing piled up on its lid) would let surgical staff deposit waste items without going out of their way or compromising their scrubs. If you don't have a process lined up for efficiency, you won't have efficient processes.

Andrea Lynn Cromer, BSN, MT, CIC
Nurse Clinician
Duke University Infection Control Outreach Network
Durham, N.C.
[email protected]

Spend a Week Saying "Thanks" to Your Staff
The staff members of our multi-specialty ambulatory surgery center are the keys to our success, so in appreciation of their efforts and to solidify a team-oriented approach, we carve out an entire week of celebration and appreciation for all employees rather than celebrating individual departmental weeks (such as nursing, administration, endoscopy or OR). Our facility's management team puts quite a bit of effort into the week's events. They decorate the different departments and lounge areas with balloons, signs of gratitude and baskets of treats. Each day of the week has a fun theme, and breakfast, lunch or snacks are provided for the employees. Vendors and physician offices will also sponsor events. Additionally, we give all employees a small gift of appreciation, such as umbrellas, beach towels, thermoses or tote bags with scratch-off lottery tickets in them. The week usually culminates with an outside picnic or barbecue; one year we even had a pig roast. The week-long celebration is a great way for us all to take some time out of our busy schedules, show our appreciation for one another and enjoy the personal satisfaction in our continued commitment to providing outstanding customer service and jobs well done.

Connie Twaddell
Marketing Coordinator
Centennial Surgery Center
Voorhees, N.J.
[email protected]

Try This Team-building Exercise
Here's a neat exercise you might try at your next staff meeting. Position several chairs back to back. Pair up the group and have them sit in the chairs. Don't put friends or peers on the same team — match a surgeon with a nurse, for example, a male with a female or a younger person with an older person. Give one team member a picture of an assembled T-shaped puzzle (shown here) and give the other member the 5 pieces of the incomplete puzzle. The person with the picture of the assembled puzzle should direct her partner how to complete the puzzle without revealing its shape. Tell the teams they have 10 minutes to complete the exercise. After about 5 minutes, the team member with the picture can reveal the shape of the puzzle to her partner, creating a shared mental model. You'll notice a drastic improvement in the number of teams that are able to complete the exercise once both members know how the puzzle will look when completed. The exercise serves as an icebreaker, creating a level playing field between various levels of the clinical hierarchy, and demonstrates the importance of approaching each case with a shared game plan that's clearly verbalized.

Karen J. Anderson, RN, MBA, MSN, CNOR
Director of Surgical Services
Northwestern Memorial Hospital
Chicago, Ill.
[email protected]

Tips on Starting a Nerve Block Program
Before you start developing a new regional anesthesia service, answer these very important questions.

• Who'll perform the procedures? Training staff in specific procedural skills and advanced technology (surface ultrasound and perineural catheter placement, for example) is essential. Anesthesia providers can find appropriate training at conferences and workshops or learn from colleagues who have received specialized training.
• Where will nerve blocks be performed? Regional anesthesia procedures are commonly performed in the OR before or after surgery, but there are better ways to spend time in the OR. If possible, perform blocks in an induction area or pre-op holding room. For anesthesia groups using a care team (supervising anesthesiologists with nurse anesthetists or residents), a block room or parallel-processing model is recommended.
• What do you need? Regional anesthesia procedures require specialized equipment like nerve stimulators, needles, catheter kits and an ultrasound machine. Centralizing needed supplies will contribute to effective time management. Storing equipment and supplies in one location, like a block room or regional anesthesia block cart, maximizes efficiency.

Edward R. Mariano, MD, MAS
Associate Professor of Clinical Anesthesiology
University of California
[email protected]