Sandel Gives Medical Center a Colorful Patient Safety Solution

CHATSWORTH, Calif. -- Sandel Medical Industries, LLC, a leader in patient safety, has provided a colorful assist to the University of Kentucky Albert B. Chandler Hospital’s efforts to improve safety conditions in the operating room.

Patients, surgeons, nurses are all clothed in blue; all multipurpose containers are blue; and surgical towels are blue.  The predominance of the color blue in critical areas of the hospital could make identification of specimens difficult increasing the potential for errors.

Specimen errors at any hospital have a tremendous impact on patient safety because they can mean a missed diagnosis or delayed treatment.

The University of Kentucky moved decisively to reduce wasted time by including Sandel’s distinct Orange Specimen Handling Products in its five-point solution.  The color orange provides healthcare workers with the ability to spot the correct specimen in a sea of blue.

Included in UK’s solution is the read-back policy between the surgeon/surgical technician/nurse and a designated area for specimens in the operating room.

“The nurses like the orange products. Combined with the other solutions we came up with during the process, it has helped us tremendously,” said Joy Stoll, a supervisor in the UK surgical pathology laboratory.

Sandel’s Orange Specimen Handling Products consist of the Orange Specimen Zone, Specimen Labels, Orange Specimen Wrap, Specimen Cup, Shaped Specimen Bowl, and Orange Specimen Bowl. The products help to ensure safe and accurate specimen collection and labeling.