AORN Asks Members to Support House Resolution 150

DENVER -- National Time Out Day is June 22, 2005, and there is a resolution in each house of Congress supporting public awareness of this event, according to the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN). In February, Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana introduced Senate Resolution 40; this month, Rep. Mark Udall of Colorado introduced House Resolution 150. These newly introduced resolutions replace the proposals introduced by Landrieu and Udall last year.

AORN says that it is grateful to Landrieu and Udall for their efforts, and asks all perioperative nurses to notify their members of Congress in support of these resolutions. AORN suggests contacting your two U.S. Senators (listed by state at www.senate.gov) and ask for their support of Senate Resolution 40; as well as contact your U.S. Representative (www.house.gov) and ask him or her to support House Resolution 150.

The following is the language of H. Res. 150:

109th CONGRESS 1st Session

H. RES. 150

Recognizing the goals and ideals of a National Time Out Day to support the universal protocol, developed by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, for preventing errors in the operating room, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES March 10, 2005 Mr. UDALL of Colorado submitted the following resolution (which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce)

RESOLUTION Recognizing the goals and ideals of a National Time Out Day to support the universal protocol, developed by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, for preventing errors in the operating room, and for other purposes.

Whereas, according to an Institute of Medicine report entitled To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System, published in 2000, between 44,000 and 98,000 hospitalized individuals in the United States die each year due to medical errors, and an untold thousands more suffer injury or illness as a result of preventable errors; Whereas there are more than 40,000,000 inpatient surgery procedures and 31,000,000 outpatient surgery procedures performed annually in the United States; Whereas for the first time, nurses, surgeons, and hospitals throughout the country are being required by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations to adopt a common set of operating room procedures in order to help curb the alarming number of deaths and injuries due to medical errors; Whereas the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations has developed a universal protocol which calls for surgical teams to call a time out before surgeries begin in order to verify the patient's identity, the procedure to be performed, and the site of the procedure, and this protocol has been endorsed by over 50 national healthcare organizations; Whereas 4,579 accredited hospitals, 1,261 ambulatory care facilities, and 131 accredited office-based surgery centers were required by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations to adopt the universal protocol effective July 1, 2004; Whereas the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses has created an Internet website and distributed 55,000 tool kits to healthcare professionals throughout the country to assist them in implementing the universal protocol; and Whereas the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, the American College of Surgeons, the American Society of Anesthesiologists, the American Hospital Association, and the American Society for Healthcare Risk Management are celebrating National Time Out Day on June 22, 2005, to support the universal protocol of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organization for preventing errors in the operating room: Now, therefore, be it resolved, that the House of Representatives (1) recognizes the goals and ideals of a National Time Out Day, as designated by the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses and endorsed by the American College of Surgeons, the American Society of Anesthesiologists, the American Hospital Association, and the American Society for Healthcare Risk Management, to support a universal protocol for preventing errors in the operating room by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations; and (2) congratulates perioperative nurses and representatives of surgical teams for working together to reduce medical errors and to ensure the improved health and safety of surgical patients.

Source: AORN