Perioperative Nursing: Safety Checks and Prevention of Harm

Course Purpose

Review perioperative safety practices involving patient and site verification, checklists, surgical counts, sterile technique, antibiotic timing, medication interruption, fire and energy hazards, positioning, temperature, and handoff. Lessons use reported cases and source material to examine prevention and team communication.

Continuing Education Credit Designation

This educational activity is credited for 4 contact hours at completion of the activity.

Overview

Review perioperative safety practices involving patient and site verification, checklists, surgical counts, sterile technique, antibiotic timing, medication interruption, fire and energy hazards, positioning, temperature, and handoff. Lessons use reported cases and source material to examine prevention and team communication.

Objectives

Upon completion of this independent study, the learner will be able to:

1. Define wrong-site, wrong-procedure and wrong-patient surgery as the retrieved primer defines them, and state why they are classed as never events.
2. State the reported frequency of these errors and the reported proportion occurring outside the operating room.
3. Describe the components of The Joint Commission's Universal Protocol reported in the primer, including site marking and the surgical timeout.
4. Explain, using the reported cognitive distinction between slips and mistakes, why checklists reduce some errors and not others.
5. State the three parts of the surgical safety checklist reported in the primer and the reported effect of electronic versus paper versions.
6. Define a surgical count as the retrieved primer defines it, including who performs it and the see, separate and say method.
7. Explain the packaging problem behind the reported retained-sponge case and why a count called correct can be false.
8. State the reported proportion of confirmed retained-sponge penalty cases in which the final count was called correct.
9. Describe the rules of a sterile field reported in the retrieved review, including the unsterile border, furniture distance and package integrity checks.
10. State the NHSN definition of a surgical site infection and the reported incidence after inpatient surgery.
11. State the reported optimal timing window for preoperative antibiotic prophylaxis and the reported triggers for intraoperative redosing.
12. Explain why anticoagulation and antiplatelet interruption is a balance of two risks, using the reported platelet recovery figures.
13. Name the three components of the fire triangle and the reported oxygen-related risk factor for surgical fire.
14. State the reported ECRI response sequence for a fire on or in a patient.
15. State the reported precautions for electrosurgery in a patient with a pacemaker or implantable defibrillator, within the source's dermatologic scope.
16. Describe the reported mechanism and common sites of pressure injury, including device-related sites.
17. State the reported incidence of perioperative vision loss for spine fusion and cardiac surgery and the reported positioning-related risk factors.
18. State the reported temperature bands for hypothermia and the four reported mechanisms of heat loss.
19. State the reported triggers, incidence, mortality and dantrolene dose for malignant hyperthermia.
20. State the reported incidence of atelectasis under general anaesthesia and describe what a structured handover out of the room is expected to contain.

Who this course is for:

Advanced Practice Registered Nurses, registered nurses, licensed practical or vocational nurses, and other healthcare providers in any setting who want to strengthen perioperative safety checks and prevent wrong-site, wrong-procedure, and wrong-patient surgery.

Course outline

12 sections · finish in any order across devices

1. 1

   Course overview and learning objectives

2. 2

   Introduction

3. 3

   The wrong side, the wrong level, the wrong patient

4. 4

   What a checklist is actually for

5. 5

   Counts, sponges and the item that stays behind

6. 6

   The sterile field and the infection it is built to prevent

7. 7

   Before the incision: antibiotic timing and the drugs that were stopped

8. 8

   Fire, energy and burns

9. 9

   Position: the pressure you cannot feel and the sight you can lose

10. 10

    Temperature, lungs and the handover out of the room

11. 11

    Nursing Considerations

12. 12

    Conclusion

This Course Satisfies

Requirement summaries come from our state requirement records. All Users of Fast CE For Less’s website and content are responsible for knowing their state’s license and renewal requirements.

Update history