/_media/adv/web/images/2011/20111124_Arthrex_TB-378x82.jpg

Subscriptions

Advertising

Resources

About Us

Contact Us

Create An Account Forgot Your Password?
Trouble logging in or creating an account? click here
Home This Month E-Weekly Newsletter Building a Facility Article Archive Second Opinions
Search:
Benchmarking
General Surgery
Accrediting/Quality
Anesthesia
Code/Bill/Reimburse
Building/Renovating
/_media/adv/web/images/2011/20111003_Ansell_LB-154x100.gif
/_media/adv/web/images/2012/20120426_PDI_LB-154x100.gif
/_media/adv/web/images/2012/20120201_Provation_LB-154x100.gif
/_media/adv/web/images/2012/20120322_Soma_LB-154x100.gif
Outpatient Surgery E-Weekly

Malpractice Verdicts Often Favor Physicians

Physicians come out on the winning end of 80% of malpractice claims that end in jury verdicts, according to researchers at Massachusetts General Hos...

Study: CT Colongraphy Effective in Finding Polyps

A CT-scan-based, laxative-free "virtual colonoscopy" may be as effective as standard colonoscopy in finding potentially cancerous polyps, according ...

Wrong-Site Prevention Video Shows the Right Way

Wrong-site, wrong-patient and wrong-procedure surgery must be prevented at all costs. The 3 steps of the Joint Commission's Universal Protocol make ...

Archive > September, 2005 Vol. VI, No. 9

Ideas That Work

A Rolling Ice Chest in the OR

Edited by Diana Procuniar, RN, BA, CNOR

Diana Procuniar, RN, BA, CNOR As an orthopedic ASC with precious little storage space, one of our biggest challenges was lugging 3,000cc bags of irrigation fluid from the sterile room to the OR across the hall. Not only was this an inefficient use of our circulator's time, but also we were concerned from an infection control standpoint about the OR door swinging open so often. It was a chore until one of our staff members hit upon the perfect solution: an Igloo cooler on wheels.

As you can see from the picture, the cooler doesn't take up much OR space (we store it behind the fluid cart) and it holds about 18 3,000cc bags, plenty for an ACL or any other high-fluid-volume procedure. We fill the cooler with the seven-pound bags before the first day's cases. Whenever we need more fluid, the circulator simply reaches down into the cooler, pulls out what she needs and hangs the bags.

Karen Bennett, RN, ONC
ASC Manager
Academy Orthopedics ASC
Cumming, Ga.
writeMail("kbennett@academyorthopedics.com")

Sign in to continue reading.
Email Address:
Password:
Categories: Ideas That Work
Keywords:
Karen Bennett, RN, ONC; Kim Donnelly, BSN; Lynn Truitt, MSN, CNOR; Lisa Hicks, RN, BSN; Karen Gabbert, BSN; Donna Keehner Nowak, RN, MSN; Leanne Bales, RN, CNOR; Terry Merriman, RN, BSN; ASC; BSN Clinical Director Orthopaedic Surgical Center; BSN Clinical Director Surgery Center; CASC; CNOR Director; CPANs; Cancellations To; Cards We; Center; Certification When; Compounding; Day-of-surgery Cancellations To; Delivery, Shelving; Director; Director Orthopaedic Surgical Center; Director Surgery Center; Friday; Gabbert, BSN Clinical Director Surgery Center; Get-well Cards We; Home; Igloo; Keehner N... show all keywords
Karen Bennett, RN, ONC; Kim Donnelly, BSN; Lynn Truitt, MSN, CNOR; Lisa Hicks, RN, BSN; Karen Gabbert, BSN; Donna Keehner Nowak, RN, MSN; Leanne Bales, RN, CNOR; Terry Merriman, RN, BSN; ASC; BSN Clinical Director Orthopaedic Surgical Center; BSN Clinical Director Surgery Center; CASC; CNOR Director; CPANs; Cancellations To; Cards We; Center; Certification When; Compounding; Day-of-surgery Cancellations To; Delivery, Shelving; Director; Director Orthopaedic Surgical Center; Director Surgery Center; Friday; Gabbert, BSN Clinical Director Surgery Center; Get-well Cards We; Home; Igloo; Keehner Nowak, RN, MSN Assistant Director; MSN Assistant Director; MSN, CNOR Director; Merriman, RN, BSN Clinical Director Orthopaedic Surgical Center; Monday; Nowak, RN, MSN Assistant Director; One-fourth; PACU; Patient Satisfaction Like; Patients; Patients Home; Polaroid; RN; RN, BSN Clinical Director Orthopaedic Surgical Center; RN, MSN Assistant Director; Satisfaction Like; Scheduling; Shelving; Shifts About; Staff; Staff Certification When; Supplies Our; Surgeons Tired; Surgical Center; Truitt, MSN, CNOR Director; accreditors; adequate; ahead; allocate; anesthesiologist; applying; arrive; asked; attached; avoid; bags; biggest; block; bonus; boxes; brightly; bring; busy; call; cancellations; cancelled; cap; card; cardboard; care; cases; certified; challenges; changed; chore; circulator; cleaning; comfortable; coming; comments; compared; complaints; complete; complimenting; concerned; concerns; conduct; congratulate; constant; contracts; control; cooler; cost; coverage; created; creating; daily; day; days; dedicated; deliver; deliveries; deliveryman; developed; discharge; discoveries; divide; doctor; door; drivers; drop; due; earlier; earn; easy; efficiently; emergency; end; endoscopy; enjoy; essentially; evaluate; everyone's; exclusive; expense; experience; experienced; extra; face; facility; feel; fill; film; fluid; found; frames; frees; friendly; front; full-time; gathers; gave; generally; get-well; gown; group; hang; happy; high-fluid-volume; hired; hit; holds; home; hospital; important; impresses; incentivize; included; incomplete; increased; inefficient; infection; information; instructed; instrument; interview; irrigation; items; late; left; letters; levels; liaison; lost; low-budget; lugging; made; magnetic; make; managers; manipulate; meetings; member; minimal; minor; needed; newly; number; nurse; obtain; offices; one's; open; organized; orthopedic; pair; pajamas; par; participated; patient; patients; pediatric; percent; perfect; perk; physicians; picture; place; planning; plaque; plastic; plenty; position; post; post-op; pre-operative; pre-procedure; precious; preparing; pretty; problem; procedure; procedures; project; provide; pulls; purchasing; put; questions; ranks; rate; reaches; rearranged; related; renovation; response; responsibility; revenue; room; running; satisfaction; schedule; schedules; send; serves; seven-pound; shelve; shifts; shouldering; side-by-side; sign; simply; sit; sleeve; slip; sounds; space; staff; stamped; standpoint; stay; step; sterile; stock; stocking; storage; store; studying; supplies; supply; surgeons; surgery; surgical; survey; swinging; system; techs; telling; tend; tended; tests; thing; thinking; time; timely; told; treated; undertook; unpack; urgently; user-unfriendly; volunteers; waiting; wear; weeks; work; worked; working; wrapping; year; years; yes-and-no

© Copyright Herrin Publishing Partners LP. REPRODUCTION OF THIS COPYRIGHTED CONTENT IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED. We encourage LINKING to this content; view our linking policy here.

PRODUCT & SERVICE RESOURCES
Did You See This?
A showcase of products and services geared to make your facility better.

Architects' Showcase
Is a beautiful, efficient new facility in your future?
/_media/adv/web/images/2012/20120323_ORX_AR-300x250.jpg
Other Articles That May Interest You
How to Avoid Day-of-Surgery Cancellations
Find out what you can do about the 3 most common reasons that patients don't show up.
OR Staff Walk Laps During Lunch Break in Honor of Fallen Friend
12 laps around the surgical department's circular hallway equals 1 mile.
7 Steps to Effective Specimen Handling
Professional organization's guidelines eliminate the risk of error.