Surgical Attire in Your OR

[JoeTheRN]

Just trying to get some input from you guys. What is your current Surgical Attire policy? Our hospital is beginning to implement a lot of the newer AORN recommendations and is meeting a lot of resistance. i.e. no surgeons caps, wear jackets, etc

Also, if you follow the "all non scrubbed personnel wear a jacket" in the OR portion of the recommendation, how do you handle scrubs, surgeons, etc.. once they have broken scrub? Do they have to keep a jacket in the OR to wear once they take off their gowns?

And how are you supposed to wash your hands if they get soiled? Dispose of jacket, wash

hands, then get a new jacket? I have TONS of questions!

Thanks for the help!

[ORoxyO]

We just implemented this partially. We can still wear cloth caps but have to cover them with a disposable one. They no longer allow our own scrub jackets...but they haven't provided us with hospital ones yet and it has been months! We're cold and now no one is covered

[cdsga]

So much wasted time on this subject. Unless you have a very persuasive manager/director who has the ability to police and enforce the standards for attire-all the policy is is lip service. Some hospitals have home laundering, some don't, some allow cloth caps, others don't, some allow fleece warm up jackets and turtle necks, some don't. The large bags-leather-back packs, fanny packs etc etc continue to enter into the OR. Many of the people who don't recognize the policy are not employees of the hospital, so it falls on deaf ears. Many managers have bigger fish to fry, and unless an infection is traced directly to attire, not much other than recommendations, appeals, and policing the employees, will be done.

[adzam08]

The only new policy our OR has adopted is the cloth jackets. They prohibited us from wearing them and after a while of allowing us to wear nothing, they have provided us with disposable scrub jackets. Long term, they have said they want to get matching fabric ones and have them laundered like the scrubs. The issue is some people will change out and dispose of the jacket every few days, others every few weeks to the point they are dirty and falling apart because they are meant to be disposable for limited use. I don't think the method we have right now is drastically decreasing our infection rates and only increasing unit cost! Our hospital does not police cloth hats, hair hanging out of those hats, shoe covers etc!

[staceyp413]

Send me your email address or better yet your phone number and I'll share with you the good, bad, and the ugly on where we started and where we are right now.

[tcox7125]

Our facility here in Tampa has recently adopted the new AORN recommended practices regarding this manner. But it seems that the nurses, scrub techs and PCAs are strictly being monitored by our clinical education specialist and manager while the anesthesia department is NOT being monitored at all. When JHACO came through two weeks ago EVERYONE was adhering to the new policy but as soon as they left you can guess what happened. We have been provided disposable scrub jackets but they never have any sizes other small and 2XL.... They even took away the mens "skull caps" and they unfortunately have no choice but to wear the bouffant caps. The only EBP articles they have provided us have been from the 1970s and no others! Either way, whether or not we have disposable this or that, who is REALLY watching us is US! We must in good faith and diligence wear our jackets, hats and scrubs once and throw away.... if we all did this I do not think we would have a problem.

[tcox7125]

Our facility here in Tampa has recently adopted the new AORN recommended practices regarding this manner. But it seems that the nurses, scrub techs and PCAs are strictly being monitored by our clinical education specialist and manager while the anesthesia department is NOT being monitored at all. When JHACO came through two weeks ago EVERYONE was adhering to the new policy but as soon as they left you can guess what happened. We have been provided disposable scrub jackets but they never have any sizes other small and 2XL.... They even took away the mens "skull caps" and they unfortunately have no choice but to wear the bouffant caps. The only EBP articles they have provided us have been from the 1970s and no others! Either way, whether or not we have disposable this or that, who is REALLY watching us is US! We must in good faith and diligence wear our jackets, hats and scrubs once and throw away.... if we all did this I do not think we would have a problem.

[staceyp413]

Same problem here recently. Anesthesia bringing skull caps that we removed from inventory from other facilities in town. Looking to put something into their next contract. It's very difficult to watch them come by even after saying something to the person and their dept leaders. Also it feels awful sometimes being the enforcer for this when there are so many better places to use my time and energy but I keep on it because it's the right thing to do.