Lorraine Wall, chief nursing officer and hospital chief operating officer at Olympic Medical Center, praised the work accomplished by a multi-disciplinary team at a recent board of commissioners meeting.

In response to a new American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology guideline that states emergent C-Sections should be performed in 30 minutes or less regardless of time of day, this team developed a “Code OB C-section 30” emergency response system. The system outlines a clear plan for each member of the clinical team and activates resources from the Emergency Department and Intensive Care Unit to help prepare the patient and surgical suite quickly and efficiently.

“The process improvement team provided hours of education and training, implemented tools and checklists, and coordinated practice drills at all hours of the day and night,” Wall said.

“Several members of this team really went above and beyond to successfully implement this improved critical process.”

They are:

• Heidi Mattern, RN, OR/surgery

• Ellen Adams, RN, perioperative services educator, OR/surgery

• Joellyn Jensen, RN, manager, OR/post-anesthesia care unit

• Sandra McGoldrick-Kendall, RN, obstetrics

• Tim Frymyer, manager, respiratory therapy

• Paula Wahl, RN, organizational performance improvement coordinator.