Nurses observe National Time Out Day

Since June 13 is National Time Out Day, the perioperative nurses of Iowa believe it's a good opportunity to remind everyone who works in the operating room how important it is to take a time out for every patient, every time.

Taking a “time out” before operative and other invasive procedures is a requirement of The Joint Commission Universal Protocol to prevent wrong-site, wrong-procedure surgery. Despite this requirement, 152 such procedures were reported in 2011 to the accrediting agency.

This may seem like an insignificant number when every year more than 40 million patients are admitted for surgery at U.S. hospitals and another 31 million undergo outpatient procedures. But The Joint Commission estimates that wrong-site surgeries occur up to 40 times a week. To support the protocol and build greater awareness among surgical team members, the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN) launched National Time Out Day. The goal is to prevent errors by ensuring that all physicians, nurses and anesthesia providers pause before all invasive procedures so they can communicate as a group and confirm key information about the patient and procedure.

AORN commemorates National Time Out Day with this public commitment to our patients, their loved ones and the entire surgical community that we will always take time out for every patient, every time.

Rhonda Price

Solon