By James Girards
June 12 is National Time Out Day. Every week in the USA, 30-40 wrong site surgeries will occur. National Time Out Day was started in 2004 by the Association of PeriOperative Registered Nurses to raise awareness of this issue and the importance of taking a "time out" before beginning each and every surgical procedure in the country to confirm that they are about to cut on the correct patient, and confirming the correct procedure on the correct location - as well as other important information. When the entire surgery team has to stop and do this process and all are in agreement at each step, wrong site surgeries are prevented. This procedure is also mandated by the Universal Protocol issued by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. Is your hospital participating in National Time Out Day today? Read more here.