ON THE SAME PAGE A cover sheet outside the patient charts serves as a clear executive summary for all caregivers.

Answer Sheet
Try This Handy Cover Sheet for Your Charts

Pre-op calls go a long way toward addressing clinical concerns and eliminating potential delays, but displaying the information you gather in a place where all your providers can see it improves patient care and efficiency. At our hospital, the nurses who make pre-op calls follow a checklist of detailed questions — including what medications the patient is taking, whether they've undergone surgery before, if they've experienced difficulties with IV starts, if they remember which anesthetics they received, whether they've suffered post-op nausea and vomiting, and so on — and note the responses on a single-page form that's attached to the front of the chart and that travels with the patient throughout the perioperative process. That way, everyone along the way knows the patient's needs and history without having to dig through the chart. Having to page through the chart to find out what kind of care is necessary can delay your progress, but a preparation sheet can do the digging for you.

James Babeshoff, CRNA, MSN
Galesburg (Ill.) Cottage Hospital
[email protected]