Perioperative Risk Assessment for Skin Injury.

Hospital-acquired pressure injuries create a tremendous cost to health care organizations and negatively affect quality and patient safety. Surgical patients are at an increased risk for skin injury, particularly a pressure injury, because of a lack of sensation and immobility during a procedure. An interprofessional team at our facility identified factors that place surgical patients at risk for skin injury. We developed a risk assessment protocol in March 2021 using the Six Sigma DMAIC (define, measure, analyze, improve, and control) method. After data review and analysis, we identified age of 65 years or older, existence of a skin condition, and procedural duration greater than four hours as significant predictors for postoperative skin injury. Our findings reinforce the benefit of using an appropriate risk assessment protocol that alerts the perioperative team members to at-risk patients.

Engaging Perioperative Learners Using Online game-based Education.

Nurse educators may experience challenges (eg, distracted learners, inability to provide immediate feedback) when teaching in a classroom setting. Further, the perioperative workforce is multigenerational-younger staff members may have started using technology on a daily basis at a young age, so they may become distracted during traditional lectures and not retain important information. Online game-based learning (GBL) platforms are one technological solution that perioperative educators can use to maintain student engagement and foster learning. Educators at an academic medical center used an online GBL platform to develop presentations on instrument sterilization and surgical attire with sterile technique. At the conclusion of the sessions, the participants submitted surveys evaluating the teaching method. The survey results showed that the respondents found the GBL program to be a fun and positive interactive learning experience. Nurse educators should consider using this type of technology to improve participation and knowledge retention when developing educational programs.