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Learning pharmacology is a critical element of any health care practitioner's education to ensure quality and safety in perioperative care. The medication-use process and safe medication use are two important principles that contribute to the safe use of pharmacological agents in perioperative clinical practice. The medication-use process consists of procuring, prescribing, transcribing, dispensing, administering, and monitoring; however, variations in the medication-use process result from demands unique to the perioperative environment, and these variations can sometimes bypass the safety nets within the system. Understanding these variances will help perioperative practitioners recognize threats to patient safety and help ensure the patient's well-being. Responsibilities of a safe medication-use system include assuring the public that practitioners use medications efficiently, safely, and effectively, and fully document all medications administered.

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Approximately 500,000 surgical site infections (SSIs) occur each year in the United States. The purpose of this study was to determine if the bacteria most frequently involved in SSIs could be found on telephones in the OR. Twenty-six cultures were taken from telephones in 14 ORs and two substerile rooms at a large teaching medical center. Using standard laboratory procedures, the researchers identified coagulase-negative staphylococci in the cultures. The study found that telephones in the OR can serve as reservoirs for SSI-causing bacteria.

With the widespread patient safety movement comes an increased public awareness of the risks inherent within the health care setting. More specifically, the highly publicized medication error cases that hit the media demonstrate the effect mediation errors have on patient safety within the perioperative environment. This awareness, however, has triggered limited research across the continuum of care within this complex environment. A current review of the state of the science related to medication safety within this setting reveals research primarily focused on the anesthesia domain of practice. Although application to the perioperative environment can be extrapolated from this research, there is a notable lack of nursing-initiated research that focuses on improved systems or processes related to medication safety within the perioperative continuum of care. This knowledge gap in the literature presents an excellent opportunity for nursing to grow a research program to improve medication safety within the perioperative environment in support of evidence-based practice.