Counting Policy

[kmh2000]

I am a member of a Unit Practice Council and we are examining our counting practices. I work at a hospital that is affiliated with a group of 8-10 other facilities and I know their policies (they are similar to ours ;-)

In other parts of the country, I am interested if you count instruments using pre-printed inventory sheets that come with pans, or do you use a separate sheet altogether? If you use a separate sheet, I would be very interested in getting a copy.

Thanks for any help!

Kristen

[ewattsjt]

We use a separate sheet that goes in the patient record. It will be a couple of days to get you a copy because….YEAHHHH it’s the weekend! I will try to remember.

[SandraCVRN]

Instruments on sheets that come in the pans. Everything else including peel packed instruments on a seperate sheet. A couple rooms still use the dry erase board for sharps/laps.

We have a regular count sheet and our own in the heart rooms. I'll try to remember to bring one home Monday and scan it.

[Scrubby]

Instrument checklist come with the trays. Most nurses at my work don't bother counting all the instruments because it doesn't go in the records.

[SandraCVRN]

Instrument checklist come with the trays. Most nurses at my work don't bother counting all the instruments because it doesn't go in the records.

You count instruments on open cases right? (belly cases) Our count shets are nt part of our record, but we do have a spot to chart count correct.

[AmyLiz]

We use pre-printed sheets for counting our instruments. We use another pre-printed sheet for counting sponges & blades/needles. It works quite well for us.

[Scrubby]

[You count instruments on open cases right? (belly cases) Our count shets are nt part of our record, but we do have a spot to chart count correct.]

I count all the instrument for every case i scrub for whether it's a belly or a small case. But a lot of nurses at my work don't count all the instruments, even for a laparotomy. It's a bad practice and being reviewed by the management at the moment because we had a piece of broken instrument left inside recently, which was not detected because the scrub did not follow the counting protocol.

[MamaCheese]

We have preprinted 2-sided count sheets. One side has all the instruments and the other side has all the sharps and soft goods. These do not become part of the record where I work. The heart room has a customized count sheet for their cases.

[RNiel]

We use pre printed count sheets that come in the instrument trays on open cases. We also use pre printed count sheets that are kept in the OR on locals that just have sponge and needles on them. Our manager/policy make us count at least twice (three times on c-sections) on every case including itty bitty local incision, mx/tube insertions, and the raytec w/ KY used on a colonoscopy and EGD! These sheets are an official part of the pt chart.