ABSTRACT
Although basic life support skills are not often needed in the surgical setting, it is crucial that surgical team members understand their roles and are ready to intervene swiftly and effectively if necessary. Ongoing education and training are key elements to equip surgical team members with the skills and knowledge they need to handle untimely and unexpected life-threatening scenarios in the perioperative setting. Regular emergency cardiopulmonary arrest skills education, including the use of checklists, and mock codes are ways to validate that team members understand their responsibilities and are competent to help if an arrest occurs in the OR. After a mock drill, a debriefing session can help team members discuss and critique their performances and improve their knowledge and mastery of skills.
Subject(s)
Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation/standards , Heart Arrest/nursing , Heart Arrest/therapy , Operating Room Nursing/standards , Perioperative Nursing/standards , Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation/methods , Checklist/methods , Checklist/standards , Clinical Competence/standards , Education, Nursing, Continuing , Electrocardiography , Female , Heart Arrest/epidemiology , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Operating Room Nursing/methods , Patient Care Team/standards , Perioperative Nursing/methods , Risk Factors , Staff Development/methods , Tachycardia, Ventricular/epidemiology , Tachycardia, Ventricular/nursing , Tachycardia, Ventricular/therapy , Ventricular Fibrillation/epidemiology , Ventricular Fibrillation/nursing , Ventricular Fibrillation/therapyABSTRACT
Trauma is the leading cause of death for people younger than age 45 in the United States. To help prevent death or disability, critically injured trauma patients must reach definitive care within the "golden hour."Often, the perioperative team has no more than 10 minutes to prepare the room before a patient who has suffered multiple, critical, traumatic injuries is rushed into the OR. For the trauma patient's safety, the perioperative team must be diligent and use creative measures to efficiently ensure that all surgical counts are completed. Foregoing surgical counts places the trauma patient at an increased risk for unintentionally retained foreign objects.
