best practices

[dortizjr1]

Hello,

I have a question for Operating Circulating nurses, (or any nurse that can point me to articles), the OR I work in has the practice of having OR RN's pull local anesthetic from a pyxis in our core and then we leave that local anesthetic in the preop area with syringes and needles for another RN to monitor and for the surgeon to administer. I worked as an ED nurse for 12 years prior to transferring to the OR and I never left any medication out of my sight so I'm uncomfortable with this practice. Is there a best practice recommendation or even an AORN recommendation in regards to this? The nurses in my preop area have a pyxis and are capable of pulling out any medication required preop and I haven't received an answer from my organization as to why I'm pulling and effectively abandoning a med at bedside, other than "that's the way we've always done it".

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

Is the med stocked in the preop Pyxis? It could be the issue is that with space constraints and prioritizing the meds routinely used by preop that there simply isn't space to have it.

Our OR Pyxis is not within the core and the perianesthesia nurses do change into hospital scrubs. If they need a local for a block to be given in preop rather than in the OR, they grab a hat and get the medication themselves.

Regardless, I would not leave a medication or syringes unattended. If your facility cannot add the local to the preop Pyxis and the preop staff can't get into the OR core Pyxis, there should be a direct hand off of the sealed medication vial at a minimum.