Maintaining Competence for Safe Equipment use in the Operating Room

Maintaining competence for the safe use of equipment in the operating room (OR) is one of the greatest challenges surgical personnel face. Equipment malfunction, often due to operator misuse, is one of the most commonly reported sources for OR error. OR leadership is faced with the challenge of ensuring patient safety by providing their personnel with the proper resources to maintain competence for the safe use of each piece of equipment; however, traditional training methods often lack long term effectiveness, especially for complex and/or seldom used equipment. Educational resources available to OR personnel as a refresher at the point of use would be beneficial. Developing video resources to maintain competency on the proper use of equipment could reduce equipment malfunction, and increase patient safety. Newman’s Theory of Health as Expanding Consciousness is used as a framework to create a plan for the development and implementation of an educational resource consisting of several 2 to 5 minute videos depicting the proper setup and use of complicated and/or seldom used pieces of surgical equipment. These videos will be readily available for access in the OR suite. Utilizing this video resource may increase patient safety, job satisfaction, and surgical personnel’s ability to collaborate with the surgical team and potentially decrease job-related stress