Abstract:

Maintaining Nursing Excellence in the OR: Bone Flap Storage Kit for Compliance Autologous cranial bone flaps are recovered and stored to relieve brain swelling after traumatic brain injury. These flaps are stored for later re-implantation after the brain swelling has subsided. It is very important to follow American Association of Tissue Bankingís (AATB) recommendations as well as recommended practices for tissue storage by AORN while storing the flaps for later re-implantation. According to AORN and Joint Commission, hospitals storing autologous skull bone flaps must adhere to the Joint Commissionís Tissue Storage standards. A custom autologous skull bone flap bone flap storage kit has been developed at this authorís facility that has all the supplies and instructions for the nurse to follow on recovery, wrapping, labeling, storage & preparation of autologous bone skull flaps for later re-implantation. This kit meets all the required standards and is a staff satisfier as they do not have to search for the policies and the protocols in the middle of night on how to handle the autologous skull flap while helping the surgeon with traumatic brain surgery. Storing autologous cranial skull flap in the OR should be taken seriously. Having complete bone flap storage package increases staff awareness, surgeon and patient satisfaction and increases compliance of the hospital for storage of the autologous skull flap.

Primary Author:

Rajni Parmar
Operating Room Manager, University of Arizona Health Network
rajni.parmar@uahealth.com