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Patient Safety improved with Smart Board
Patient safety is taken very seriously at Faith Regional Health Services. Kim Rabbass, a unit clerk in the Operating Room (OR) at Faith Regional, has added another patient safety precaution to the smart board technology used in their area.
The smart board is an electronic communication tool that keeps the OR physicians and pre-operative staff in constant communication on the status of surgery patients. It tracks where the patient is in the process of prepping for surgery, the physicians scheduled for surgery and additional important information regarding surgical patients. With the ability to be viewed online by select staff, the board also saves many phone calls to the OR to see if a particular surgeon is done working.
In April of 2009, Rabbass added a site marked column on the smart board that lets the pre-operative staff know when the physician has marked the surgical site. The patient cannot be brought into the OR until the surgical site has been marked by the surgeon.
“It is just another way Faith Regional is taking precautions to prevent wrong site surgery,” said Rabbass.
In addition, the site marked column also enables Faith Regional to be more efficient by saving nurses numerous trips to the pre-operative area to see if the surgeon has marked the site and reminds physicians that it is a requirement for taking the patient to the room.
Faith Regional is one of only a few hospitals in Nebraska using the smart board technology.
“The smart board is very cutting-edge technology,” said Barb Matthews, director of the Surgery Services. “Many of our locum physicians and product representatives have commented that the metropolitan hospitals do not use this technology.”
Faith Regional has been using the Smart Board since 2007.
Last Updated: 6/10/2009
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