At Northbank Surgery Center, your safety is our top prioroity. The staff takes many steps to make sure your surgery or procedure goes as planned. You, as the patient, can play a vital role in making your care safe by becoming an active, involved and informed member of your health care team.
Please contact our Administrator at 503-364-3704 with any concerns about your safety issues that may occur before, during, and after care is received.
Day of Surgery
Key things you can do to help make your care safer
- Patient identification practices, marking of procedure sites, and prevention of surgical infections.
- Make sure your identification (ID) bracelet is on; check your name for correct spelling. Verify your birth date. Speak up and let staff know if something is incorrect.
- Review all information before you sign it. Make sure your consent states the correct name, doctor’s name, procedure and site (body part). If you have questions, please ask. If you still don’t understand, ask again. It is okay, we want you to understand.
- Staff will ask you to tell them your name and birth date, the surgery to be performed and the location on your body of the surgery or the procedure. If appropriate, you may be asked to point to the site of the procedure (especially if it involved a right or left body part). Expect us to look at your ID bracelet. Don’t be alarmed if staff, including your doctors, asks you to tell him your name. This is just a safety measure to make sure everything is correct.
- Don’t be afraid to continue to ask questions and make sure staff members are washing their hands or using hand cleanser before caring for you. If you don’t see them, please don’t be afraid to ask them if they have cleaned their hands.
- The staff may ask you the same questions several times. Don’t be alarmed by the repetition. This is how we make sure everything is correct.
- You may have an ink mark placed where the procedure is expected to be done (site marking). You will be involved with this process. The mark should not easily rub off. If it does, please tell a staff member. It is very important your doctors and nurses see that mark after you go to sleep, but before the procedure begins. Do not mark non-operative body sites. This can cause confusion.
- TIME OUT —just before your surgery starts, everyone in the operating room, will stop what they are doing and take a short “time out” to check one last time that you are the correct patient and the correct doctor is doing the correct procedure on the correct body part.
- YOU and your family are encouraged to express concerns about safety. You are the most important part of the healthcare team. By becoming involved and informed in making decisions about your care, you play a vital role in your safety.
REMEMBER:
–IF SOMETHING CAUSES YOU CONCERN, PLEASE TELL SOMEONE
–ALWAYS KEEP AN UPDATED LIST OF MEDICATIONS AND ALLERGIES WITH YOU