Time Out Day a reminder to stop and think before procedures

I am a local perioperative nurse who still gets my news from the printed page.

For a surgical patient, their family members and friends, a wrong patient, wrong site or wrong surgical procedure is devastating. As a perioperative RN, I’m committed to helping reduce surgical errors and improve patient outcomes by taking a time out for every patient, every time. By taking a “time out” before operative and other invasive procedures, a requirement of The Joint Commission, surgical team members confirm the patient, the procedure and the surgery.

Every year, on National Time Out Day — June 14 this year — hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers around the country are reminded to evaluate the quality of their operating rooms’ time out process. Time Out Day was established by the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses to support the protocol and build greater awareness for this important pre-op step among surgical team members.

Melanie Burton

Snoqualmie