If you are managing an OR, then you know it's not an easy task. Your responsibility ranges from OR cabinets to finding the right talent to run the operating room.
To help guide you, we have listed the features of a safe operating room.
How safe should your operating room be? Simply put, a patient's life and health should never be jeopardized because the safety and health protocol of an operating room has not been implemented properly.
There should be no infections after the procedure and this can only be achieved when the facility is sterile and an adequate protocol is in place. The OR staff should also be trained in the proper procedure to ensure the safety of the patients and everyone inside the operating room.
Patients don't usually consider the operating rooms when they go for procedures. They normally put their trust in their surgeons, who are supposed to pick the best facilities for their patients.
That places more responsibility on someone like you who is in charge of running an operating room. To help guide you, we have listed some of the most crucial features of a safe operating room.
Yes, a safe operating room is something that has been reviewed and approved by surgeons and other experts in the field.
Experts actually monitor operating rooms to ensure that all are following the standards. It is also a way for them to regulate those who are involved in running ORs.
One of the many advantages of a modern operating room is that it can be run based on facts and data. You can easily get the data that you need.
Data like infections and complications can be monitored to assess the performance of the operating room. For example, you can assess the number of patients who become infected in the operating room and use that information to decide what you can improve in your OR.
When an operating room is able to gather relevant data, it can utilize that to perform better.
It's not just the sterilization of the operating room to prevent an infection that is important for the safety of the patient. Other safety protocols must be followed as well.
For example, fire and earthquake protocols must be in place. All personnel should be aware of what they have to do in case there is an emergency. This is not just necessary for the safety of the patients but for everyone in the operating room as well.
Drugs and medications that will be used by the patients should also be monitored extensively. Those that are administered to each patient must be tracked constantly.
The expiration dates of the drugs must also be monitored to make sure that no expired drugs will be given to patients.
All the records of patients who go through a surgical site must be kept intact. A safe operating room must have tight control of the records of all the patients that they handle. That should be something that you should implement in your own hospital.
The records should contain everything from the procedure and technique that was performed in the operating room to the medications that are administered. These should also be checked on a regular basis to make sure that they are up to date.
How do you ensure that the quality of your operating room's performance is maintained? The best thing to do is to have robust quality management in place.
A quality management system should be in place to ensure that standards are followed. All the processes must have a quality management system in place.
No protocol should be etched in stone. Everything should be updated when it's found that it is already obsolete.
The same thing should be true with all the protocols that you follow inside your operating room. From the steps followed to ensure hygiene, like hand-washing, to how the equipment is used.
All of the protocols in place should be reviewed periodically to ensure that they are up to date. Once you have identified which one is obsolete, then you make changes.
It's not just the protocols that must be reviewed but the patient care as well. You need to check the steps taken for antisepsis and disinfection, for example.
How are patients treated after they have gone through treatment? Are they exposed to possible infections? While your patient care might seem effective already, it is best to review it on a regular basis.
This might seem like an obvious one, but not all operating rooms are updated when it comes to the equipment used in the procedures.
You must make sure that you have the latest and the best medical devices. The more modern a device, the safer it is for the patient.
Just as important as the latest equipment and an organized layout for the success of an operating room is the skill and training of the staff that will be using it. A staff that is well-versed in all of the principles can help ensure that the goals you have set will be met.
These are some of the features of a safe operating room that you should consider. These might seem complicated, but with the resources available to you, all of these can be implemented into your own operating room.
Warming blankets, storing medical equipment and supplies, and many other tasks are carried out by operating room cabinets. These cabinets come in a variety of sizes, allowing you to perfectly adapt their proportions to the space in your operating room.
To maximize storage space, Distribution Systems International designs and constructs a full line of operating room cabinetry. As soon as your team begins utilizing our operating room cabinets, it is clear that our objective is to support those who support others.
To get a custom quote for OR cabinets, contact us at 800-393-6090 at Distribution Systems International today!
With 21 years of sales management, marketing, P&L responsibility, business development, national account, and channel management responsibilities under his belt, Ian has established himself as a high achiever across multiple business functions. Ian was part of a small team who started a new business unit for Stanley Black & Decker in Asia from Y10’ to Y14’. He lived in Shanghai, China for two years, then continued to commercialize and scale the business throughout the Asia Pacific and Middle East regions for another two years (4 years of International experience). Ian played college football at the University of Colorado from 96’ to 00’. His core skills sets include; drive, strong work ethic, team player, a builder mentality with high energy, motivator with the passion, purpose, and a track record to prove it.
