Surgical Specimen Management in the Preanalytic Phase: Perioperative Nursing Implications

Abstract

Surgical specimen management is an important responsibility of perioperative nurses and is essential to the provision of safe, quality patient care. Errors related to surgical specimen management can lead to a variety of negative consequences for patients and personnel. Unfortunately, surgical specimen management errors can and do occur, particularly during the preanalytic phase, and thus are a major perioperative patient safety concern. The overall management process for various surgical specimens is essentially the same, requiring a multifaceted, multidisciplinary, standardized method that includes specimen identification, labeling, collection, handling, transferring, containing, and transporting. For perioperative nurses to advocate for their patients and help ensure effective surgical specimen management, effective communication among care team members is imperative, along with a culture of safety that focuses on the minimization of distractions and an increased awareness of opportunities for errors.

Using a Specimen Resource Aid to Reduce Intraoperative Specimen Errors

“…When reviewing the literature, we realized that miscommunication among team members can lead to improper handling of specimens. 2 When managing surgical specimens, interdisciplinary intraoperative team members should use a standardized process with proper communication. 1,[3][4][5] To communicate specimen information during the labeling process effectively, the RN circulator should write down the information and read it back to the team member who provided it (eg, the scrub person).…”

“…1,[3][4][5] To communicate specimen information during the labeling process effectively, the RN circulator should write down the information and read it back to the team member who provided it (eg, the scrub person). 2,3,5 Intraoperative team members may benefit from minimizing distractions and creating an awareness of opportunities for error. 1,5 During a QI project on specimen labeling, authors experienced an increase in label accuracy and staff member compliance when they standardized the labeling process and addressed communication concerns.…”

A Multidisciplinary Approach for Reducing Lost Surgical Specimens

“…Computer‐generated labels offer the advantage of reducing the risk for misspellings, illegibility, and transcription errors associated with handwritten labels . Although published literature supports the use of barcode technology as a method to eliminate specimen errors, this option is not yet universally available .…”

“…Computer-generated labels offer the advantage of reducing the risk for misspellings, illegibility, and transcription errors associated with handwritten labels. 9 Although published literature supports the use of barcode technology as a method to eliminate specimen errors, this option is not yet universally available. 10 The HUP laboratory computer system lacks an interface for electronic nursing documentation, which precludes implementation of barcode technology for surgical specimen labeling.…”

The Meaning and Value of Certification

“…These articles can be used to augment study materials for the CNOR examination, although the topics are relevant to all perioperative nurses regardless of certification status. The article “Surgical specimen management in the preanalytic phase: perioperative nursing implications” discusses various types of errors related to surgical specimen management as well as their effects, contributing factors, and strategies for error prevention.…”