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Learning Objective 1: The learners will be able to learn the strategies for managing intraoperative medication handling.
Learning Objective 2: The learners will be able to implement an important component of international patient safety goal related to proper medication handling in OR.
According to the international patient safety goals, medication handling is an important component. In Operating Room (OR) setting, intra-operative medication handling included taking orders, preparing and administration during surgery was done by OR Technicians (unlicensed assistants). They are the main workforce in our tertiary care hospital, whose basic education had no curriculum of medication handling in their diploma syllabus. The OR management identified and started working on this crucial issue. Method:
After multiple meetings with nursing management, Nursing Education Services (NES) and medical director, a list of all medications was prepared and found high consumption of anticoagulants, antibiotics, irrigation fluids, local and topical anesthesia and ophthalmic medications. A medication handling course was organized by OR management in collaboration with NES in hospital and senior technicians were trained. The module included the education on name of medication, its indication, contraindication, dosage, methods of preparation and checking five rights while handling medication. OR techs were also enforced to label medication in intra-operative phase with the help of sterilized labels. Results:
By December 2010, most of the senior OR Technicians (criteria: having at least 3 years experience) were certified by Nursing Education services for the basics of medication handling in OR. The passing criterion was 85%. No junior technician was allowed to prepare medication. Certified staff/Nurse was always made available for fulfilling this requirement. Conclusion:
The clause has been included in medication handling policy of the hospital. By December 2010, all almost all senior OR technicians are certified. The next round of certification will include the remaining technicians’ training and development, starting in the mid of year 2011.