The Association of periOperative Registered Nurses published its 2018 Guidelines for Perioperative Practice Thursday.
Here are three things to know.
1. The guidelines consist of 32 evidence-based recommendations for safe perioperative patient care. AORN publishes updated versions of the guidelines each January.
2. The 2018 guidelines feature updates to five recommendations and one completely new guideline.
3. The five updates include new guidance for patient positioning, medication safety, prevention of venous thromboembolism, medical device evaluation and disinfection of semicritical reusable items. The new guidance focuses on team communication.
"Every AORN guideline recommends team involvement and shared communication with all stakeholders on the perioperative team, yet research still identifies ineffective team communication as a common cause of adverse events," said Ramona Conner, MSN, RN, editor-in-chief of AORN's Guidelines for Perioperative Practice. "Understanding the evidence supporting strategies to strengthen team communication is critical for teams to successfully implement all AORN guidelines for safe perioperative care."
To learn more about the guidelines, click here.
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