d. Planning for the Time Schedule. The time schedule is planned and
prepared in order to provide an opportunity for the specialist to have learning
experiences. This is accomplished by scheduling a person who needs further training
to be on duty with a person having the appropriate training and experience. Such
considerations make the planning and the preparation of the time schedule a difficult
task.
e. Operating Room Specialist's Requests Concerning Time Off. The OR
specialist should write his routine requests for specific days off duty, for passes, and for
leaves, and he should give such requests to the NCOIC before the time schedule is
prepared. The specialist should not ask to have his time changed after the schedule
has been prepared unless he has a true emergency. He should make all requests
concerning his time to the NCOIC.
2-35. THE OPERATING ROOM SCHEDULE
a. Discussion. DD Form 1923, ORSchedule (see figure 2-3) is used
for one day's surgery. It contains the basic information needed by the scrub and the
circulator in the planning and organization of their work for that day. In order to be able
to use the information on the schedule, the specialist must know what each brief entry
means in terms of his tasks as the scrub or the circulator. While studying the
interpretation of the various entries on the schedule, refer to figure 2-3. NOTE: The
OR schedule is distributed to all units concerned. In addition to the surgical suite,
these include the surgical nursing units, the recovery room, the anesthesiology and
operative service, the Chief, Department of Surgery, the commanding officer, the Chief,
Department of Nursing, the Laboratory, the Department of Radiology, and the Chaplain.
b. Room Number. (See figure 2-3). The individual ORs are assigned
to the various surgical services by the OR Supervisor in coordination with
the Chief Anesthesiologist and Chiefs of Surgical Services. For example,
the general surgical service may use room one on Mondays, Wednesdays, and
Fridays and the urology service may use the same room on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Such an arrangement enables greater efficiency and economy in the use of the
equipment required by a particular service and also lets the scrub and the circulator
know ahead of time what equipment will be needed in a room on a given day of the
week.
c. Time. (See figure 2-3). The time entered means that the incision is to be
made at that hour. The patient should have been previously anesthetized, positioned,
prepared, and draped. Therefore, the scrub and the circulator should perform their
tasks in the preparation of the room sufficiently ahead of time in order not to delay the
case. To follow means "TF" when used in this column and indicates that the room is to
be prepared as quickly as possible upon completion of the preceding operation. The
time required for this preparation is about 20 minutes. (A patient whose surgery is
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