Perioperative, Operating Room and Surgical Nursing Commons^™

Implementation Of A Healthy Skin Committee And Education On The Number Of Hospital Acquired Pressure Injuries, Laura Viana

SACAD: John Heinrichs Scholarly and Creative Activity Days

Abstract

Over the years, hospital-acquired pressure injuries (HAPI) have emerged as a significant challenge in the healthcare industry. Despite significant advancements in healthcare, pressure injuries continue to be a persistent global healthcare issue, closely linked to the safety of patients, affecting patient outcomes, and increasing healthcare costs (Gaspar et al., 2019). HAPIs are associated with increased morbidity and mortality rates. HAPIs are likely to experience longer hospital stays, increased risk of infections, higher treatment costs, and potentially more significant health complications. HAPIs commonly occur in the hospitalized patient and are costly and preventable. Given the implications of HAPIs, there is …

Strategies To Prevent Inadvertent Retained Surgical Items: An Integrative Review, Amanda J. Snape, Jed Duff, Oya Gumuskaya, Kerry Inder, Alison Hutton

Journal of Perioperative Nursing

Background: The surgical count process is currently the recommended strategy for preventing unintentionally retained surgical items (RSIs) in Australia. Despite this, RSIs still occur and remain an internationally recognised issue and sentinel event associated with morbidity and mortality. There are numerous new and emerging strategies to prevent inadvertent RSIs, apart from the surgical count, and many involve the use of technology. These strategies are not currently specified in Standards for Perioperative Nursing in Australia (the ACORN Standards).

Aim: To provide an integrative synthesis of the literature to identify current and emerging strategies for preventing RSIs during surgical procedures.

Design: An …

Development Of A Fall Prevention Bundle With Evidence-Based Tools For Hospitalized Adults, Kelly A. Tirone

Master's Projects and Capstones

Problem

One million hospitalized people fall annually in the United States, and up to a third are preventable.

Context

Data from an acute care hospital show one medical-surgical unit reported eight patient falls in 2021, two causing major harm that reached sentinel event criteria.

Interventions

A Clinical Nurse Leader (CNL) leveraged the unique CNL skill set and characteristics of Human-Centered Leadership to engage in horizontal leadership, injury prevention, and team coordination through authentic human connection. The team leveraged documentation for improved fall risk communication. Unavoidable disruptions hindered other planned interventions.

Measures

Outcome measures observe for total fall count and the …

Save Lives And Sanitize: Prevention Of Surgical Site Infections Post-Cesarean Section Through Increased Hand Hygiene Compliance, Lindsay N. Nance

Master's Projects and Capstones

Problem: Surgical site infections (SSIs) occur in 3-15% of cesarean sections, making SSIs one of the most common hospital-acquired infections (HAIs). Surgical site infections (SSIs) have increased within a Labor & Delivery (L&D) unit in a large California teaching hospital for the past three years, affecting reimbursement and creating a range of adverse outcomes for patients. Performance of consistent and thorough hand hygiene practices is key to preventing infection, yet the unit’s hand hygiene compliance of 66.7% is well below the facility’s target goal of 90%. Based on recommendations from the organization’s Infection Prevention & Control (IPC) specialist, the …

Standardizing The Superior Preoperative Skin Antiseptic, Marissa Eckeberger

MSN Capstone Projects

Preoperative skin antisepsis is a critical component in the prevention of surgical site infections. Evidence has shown Chlorhexidine to be more effective than Povidone Iodine as well as any other agent, therefor it should be a standard of care for surgical patients. Patients expect to receive exceptional care and have good quality outcomes. Surgery is a means to resolve patient problems, not to develop new ones. Not having a standardized process in place means that patients are subject to receiving substandard care based on which surgeon they have and the surgeon’s preferences. Surgical nurses may be a part of two …

Getting To Zero: Creating An Infrastructure To Support Fall Prevention In A Medical–Surgical Unit, Krys Elgarico

Master's Projects and Capstones

Problem: Hospital falls are a growing national patient safety concern that cause anxiety, pain, distress, serious injuries, and increased health care utilization. Despite the presence of a well-developed falls prevention protocol since 2017. Internal data from an inpatient medical-surgical telemetry (MST) unit indicate the largest number of fall-related events among the hospital’s departments.

Context: Practice improvement project was initiated in a 217-bed community hospital to determine barriers and potential success factors. This MST is a dynamic, 48-bed unit providing care to mainly geriatric patients who require continuous telemetry monitoring and complex medical, trauma, and surgical services. Senior leaders in the …

Improving Perioperative Warming Of Surgical Patients: Implementation Of A Warming Protocol, Maghy Schrage

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Despite the ample amount of knowledge and interventions available to keep patients warm in the operating room, the issue of inadvertent perioperative hypothermia continues to be a problem affecting surgical patients. Unfortunately, even a mild degree of hypothermia can increase a patient’s chance for negative outcomes such as surgical site infections, bleeding, and higher risk for mortality. The project involved development of a warming protocol/guideline for a small community hospital. The implementation process consisted of two separate presentations tailored to educate both nursing and anesthesia staff about the importance of warming patients, reimbursement initiatives, and appropriate interventions.

The project study …

Surgical Site Infection Reduction Through Nasal Decolonization Prior To Surgery, Melissa S. Schmidt

Master's Projects and Capstones

Surgical site infections (SSIs) are the most common and expensive healthcare-acquired infection. The objective of this nurse-driven process improvement project was to implement a cost-effective and practical decolonization protocol to improve outcomes for high-risk veteran populations undergoing surgery at a large veteran’s hospital in the Pacific Northwest. Prior to the implementation, a decolonization protocol was used for cardiac and orthopedic preoperative patients. The process involved screening for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) colonization via nasal swab preoperatively and treating positive patients with mupirocin ointment to nares BID and chlorhexidine showers for five days prior to surgery. Adherence to the protocol was …