[voskamp]

Hallo
I'm a nurse in a dutch hospital. I have a question. The hospitals insurance company obligates us to mark the operated limb before surgery. This is a security check to make sure the right limb is operated on. In our country this is a new procedure and it leaves us with some questions. The biggest question right now is , who should do the marking (put a arrow or cross on the operated limb)? The doctors dont want to do it because often the don't have time to see the patients before theater.
The nurses wont do it because they get there information from a informal piece of paper and not from the medical status, and worry that if they mark the wrong limb they are legaly responsebal for possible misstakes. We don't want to leave it to the patients because often they are not so sure about what limb is going to be operated on themselves.
I wonder if you have any experiences with marking? Who does the marking, at what moment, do you have a protocol?
Could you help me?
thanks, Tamar