The Joint Commission and Association of periOperative Registered Nurses are partnering to promote National Time Out Day on June 14.
Here's what you should know.
1. The organizations will promote the importance of taking a surgical "time out," in hopes of lowering wrong-site surgeries.
2. For the day, the organizations want every surgical team member to be a "SUPER HERO."
SUPER HERO is an acronym standing for:
- Support a safety culture
- Use The Joint Commission's Universal Protocol and AORN Surgical Checklist
- Proactively reduce risk in the OR
- Effect change in your organization
- Reduce harm to patients
- Have frank discussions about hazardous situations
- Empower others to speak up when a patient is at-risk
- Respect others on the surgical team
- Openly seek opportunities for improving patient safety
3. AORN's CEO and Executive Director Linda Groah MSN, RN, said in a release, "While the SUPER HERO theme provides a fun focus for National Time Out Day this year, its safety culture components are serious and should resonate with perioperative teams in their shared goal to create the safest surgical experience for their patients."
4. In 2004, The Joint Commission introduced the Universal Protocol, a process to prevent wrong site-surgery. AORN adopted the Universal Protocol and created National Time Out Day around it to raise awareness of it.
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