Prioritizing Staff Safety

Abstract

Most of us have been on airplane flights, so the following scene should be familiar: right before the plane takes off, the well-trained flight crew reviews the safety aspects of the aircraft with all passengers on board, including verbal instructions and a visual demonstration of how to “put your oxygen mask on first before helping others.” As you reflect on the directive to “put your oxygen mask on first,” you realize its importance—if you are incapacitated because of a lack of oxygen, you cannot help or save anyone else who may be in trouble. That statement speaks to the spirit of this special focus issue dedicated to staff safety. As perioperative nurses, how can we safely care for our patients, especially when they are most vulnerable, if we do not have a safe environment in which to take care of ourselves while delivering nursing care? We must not hesitate to “put our oxygen mask on first” so that we can provide exceptional safe surgical patient care. I am very excited, honored, and humbled to be the guest editor of this special focus issue on staff safety. During my nursing career, I have come to realize that as nurses, we must clearly articulate our unique contribution to health care and be empowered to unequivocally share our impact as we develop and disseminate nursing knowledge and science. I believe perioperative nurses lead the way in safety, and this special focus issue highlights a few examples of how you can impact staff safety in meaningful ways. This issue of the AORN Journal contains three feature articles on the topic of staff safety. The cornerstone of this special focus issue is the article, “Just culture: the foundation of staff safety in the perioperative environment.”1 This article describes what just culture is and is not, explains why just culture is foundational to staff safety, and provides the building blocks for how to establish a just culture in your work setting. This article also discusses who is responsible for just culture (everyone) and when to advocate for safety (always). For those organizations that have a well-developed just culture, the article reinforces the fundamental tenets of a just culture and promotes self-reflection to continue to cultivate and nurture a just culture in your organization. “The effects of flow disruptions on RN circulators”2 describes the uniqueness of the perioperative setting and the complexity of care delivered in it and the connection of situational awareness and staff safety. The article explores factors that contribute to the risk for staff member injury and thoroughly examines how flow disruptions affect staff safety. Recognizing flow disruptions and how they affect staff members empowers perioperative nurses to have an increased awareness to react and respond to safety threats. The final article, “Ergonomic challenges in the perioperative setting,”3 explores the unique physical demands of working in the perioperative environment and analyzes ergonomic risk factors that affect the health and safety of perioperative team members. The article includes recommendations for optimizing perioperative nurses’ physical health and safety. Being a perioperative nurse is a physically demanding job, and it is important that we have safety measures in place to eliminate injury. The articles in this special focus issue cover just the tip of the iceberg in terms of perioperative staff safety topics that need to be explored. I would like to highlight a few additional topics that are not included in this special focus issue but are important perioperative staff safety topics: self-care, The United States Pharmacopeial Convention’s USP <800>, workplace and lateral violence, smoke hazards, tripping hazards, bloodborne pathogens and other exposures (eg, radiation), weight of instrument trays, and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). My hope is that as a perioperative nurse, you prioritize safety for yourself and your team. Allow yourself to be actively engaged by “putting your oxygen mask on first” as you deliver exceptional patient care to surgical patients. If you see something unsafe, you are empowered to not only say something, but to do something about it. As perioperative nurses, you are critical to promoting and embracing safety in your organization. Jennifer L. Fencl, DNP, RN, CNOR, CNS, is the executive director of nursing practice and education at Cone Health, Greensboro, NC. Dr Fencl has no declared affiliation that could be perceived as posing a potential conflict of interest in the publication of this article.