Essential goods are part of any great care or service. The operating room has countless examples of such materials. As perioperative professionals we know what is needed to provide the safest patient care.
Positioning patients safely and effectively is paramount to the success of all procedures. We often require more dedicated time and effort to position our patients than it takes to complete the entire surgical procedure. The lateral position involves multiple steps and items to achieve safety and success. A critical device for this position is the axillary roll. This device is a hot commodity in many operating rooms and at times this can lead to a short supply because of hoarding by one service team or another. The savvy OR team member looks ahead for the needs of the patient. However there are unplanned cases and emergent needs that arise throughout the day. Despite these spontaneous cases, the OR nurse must never sacrifice safety at the cost of anatomical exposure and position
Sally Fulmer | April 18, 2023 5:23 PM
One of the highly common surgical positions is supine. This approach involves the surgical team’s watchful eyes to oversee a patient that will lie on their back with their arms either tucked or untucked to provide direct anatomical and surgical exposure to any area from the head and neck to the anterior aspects of the lower legs and feet. Supine position may be requested for a myriad of surgical procedures including everything from a thyroid, chest, cardiac, general, urology, orthopedic, or podiatry procedure to name a few. Given the wealth of clinical indications for the supine position, intentional time must be afforded for the perioperative team to consider all areas of required surgical access, as well as the areas not exposed during the surgical intervention.
Sally Fulmer | April 06, 2023 6:21 PM
