Journal of Perioperative Practice

Coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery has been going through a time warp. The development of cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB), together with continuing advances in equipment and refinement of techniques, introduced a high level of safety for CABG operations. Recently, however, with pharmacological and technological advances, surgeons have been able to ‘go back in time’ and undertake complex CABG surgery without CPB.

Perioperative nurses spend so much time taking care of the needs of their patients that their own needs can be neglected. The amount of work done every day in operating departments means that there is often little or no time given to looking after staff. The morale within a department is not usually a high priority - until there is a crisis, or staff start leaving. Mandy Livesley's article presents the results of a survey of staff morale in an operating department. Some of the findings will not surprise you; others may stimulate debate…

The aim of this article is to consider how perioperative nursing practice may be advanced in the future. Imagine a new operating department, in a brand new hospital, where you have been given the task of finding and developing a team of perioperative nurses. Where will they come from, and how will they be developed? It is hoped that the remainder of this article may give some answers to these questions before providing some food for thought as to how nursing practice may advance.

My first encounter with a latex-sensitised client occurred some eight years ago. Since then I have become aware of an increase in the number of clients presenting for surgery who have hypersensitive reaction to latex. This realisation was the impetus to undertake the following research.

The term Universal Precautions (UP) originates from the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta (Taylor 1993). The precautions recognise that it is safer for all patients to be treated as potentially infective, whatever their status in life. The basic aim of UP is to lower the level of contact with blood or body fluids. This reduces the risk to all personnel of contact with blood born viruses and pathogenic organisms carried in other body fluids (Wicker 1991). The precautions recognise that there are high risk environments rather than high risk patients.

Circulation is very important to theatre nurses everywhere. (Excuse the pun, but 2000 - or YK2 as we are now to call it - has got to me.) Rachelle Griffiths continues our Back to Basics series with a consideration of cardiovascular circulation and monitoring. What topics would you like to see in the future in this series? Let me know via the editorial staff at NATN Headquarters.