"Neutral" sharps passing zone

[fezzin]

hi everyone!

I was wondering if you guys have a neutral zone for passing sharps at your hospital? I hardly have any experience in the OR and I was transferred to another hospital for training upon getting hired. At the place where I first trained they used a basin with a towel in it to pass all sharps to the surgeon. The new place I'm at passes the sharps by hand. Honestly, this terrifies me (as a new grad, pretty much everything terrifies me though, lol)! What's the policy at your hospital?

[boopette]

We pass sharps by hand most of the time in my hospital. If you cannot get to the blade when the surgeon hands it back to you, they usually just rest it on the magnet and inform you that there is a blade there and to be careful.

[Sister Fox]

I always passed by hand but received it back in a kidney dish. I was pretty strict when teaching that the scrub should always pass with the back of the blade to the palm, place the scalpel handle in between the forefinger and thumb of the surgeon's outstretched hand and, once he had 'ownership' of it, to take her hand away in an upwards arc away from the back of the blade. It sounds cumbersome in words but can be done quite swiftly and is about as safe as you can get under the circumstances.

I lost count of the times I was cut and stuck with things over the years. Even got my thumb pad transfixed with a Steinmann pin once but I don't suppose many of you remember them!

[Scrubby]

I always passed by hand but received it back in a kidney dish. I was pretty strict when teaching that the scrub should always pass with the back of the blade to the palm, place the scalpel handle in between the forefinger and thumb of the surgeon's outstretched hand and, once he had 'ownership' of it, to take her hand away in an upwards arc away from the back of the blade. It sounds cumbersome in words but can be done quite swiftly and is about as safe as you can get under the circumstances.

I lost count of the times I was cut and stuck with things over the years. Even got my thumb pad transfixed with a Steinmann pin once but I don't suppose many of you remember them!

We still have Steinmann pins at my hospital

[Sister Fox]

NO!!! Jiminy cricket!

I have to add the story about the houseman (junior doctor) who had his finger included in a transfixion suture and was too polite/timid to say anything! True - I was there!