Level IV OR Nurse Lisa Buckner

Fires don’t discriminate. They’ll attack anyone and anything that gives them an environment for growth without regard to the repercussions, and unfortunately many people are unprepared simply due to ignorance of proper fire procedures. These procedures are stressed through fire drills.

Not just intended for young children in elementary schools, fire drills are an important and necessary component of the workplace.
“According to our hospital policy, fire drills must be held quarterly throughout all departments,” Said OR Nurse Lisa Buckner. “I decided to focus on the OR to make sure this policy was being followed.”

Lisa Buckner has been a nurse at North Fulton Regional Hospital for 13 years, spending most of her time in the Operative Services Unit. As a dedicated Level IV Nurse, she has enjoyed taking on numerous Performance Improvement Projects that both enhance her skills and abilities as a care giver and improve the quality of care offered at North Fulton Regional Hospital. Past projects have involved pre-operative antibiotics procedures and proper patient positioning; this time, Buckner has focused her efforts on fire safety.

“Part of the Performance Improvement Initiative is that you have to first recognize that there is an area that needs improvement. Once I noticed the fire drill issue, I sat down with the policy, met with Engineering to get some background and developed my plan.” Buckner began her project in 2007 by conducting numerous staff teaching sessions, called in services, followed by expected fire drills. This year, the staff is not so informed.

“The drills will be unannounced this year,” Buckner said. “I had one at the beginning of the year and there were only minor problems, and I was able to address them immediately. The good thing about the unannounced drills is that it forces people to react as they would in a real ‘surprise’ fire situation.”

Now Buckner is in teaching mode once again. She takes it upon herself to stay current on the policies and trends that might affect the OR and other units across the hospital so that she can communicate this to the staff.

“This is something that is on my mind every day. I’ll continue doing it because I am committed to staff and patient safety.”

The Performance Improvement Project Buckner has undertaken is part of a hospital-wide clinical advancement program, known throughout North Fulton Regional Hospital as the Nurse Laddering Program. Nurses who wish to enhance their skills may participate by selecting an issue and developing an improvement program around it.

As a Level IV Nurse (one who excels in her leadership role, holds a national certification, and consistently serves as a resource and mentor to staff), Buckner has many requirements to fulfill to complete her program, some of which include: participation in a health-related community project, participation in a hospital committee, publication of an article in a newsletter, presentation of three different unit-based in services and one hospital-based in service and successful completion of at least 24 accredited CEU’s of Continuing Education in addition to her normal requirements as a nurse. The biggest area of her time, however, has been dedicated to her Performance Improvement (PI) project on Fire Safety.

North Fulton Regional Hospital (NFRH) is a 202 bed acute-care hospital located on Highway 9, Alpharetta Highway, in Roswell. Opened in 1983, NFRH serves North Fulton and surrounding counties through its team of over 1000 employees, 400 staff physicians and 200 volunteers. NFRH is a state-designated Level II trauma center and provides a continuum of services through its centers and programs, including neurosciences, orthopedics, rehabilitation, surgical services, bariatric surgical weight loss, gastroenterology and oncology. The hospital is fully accredited and also is certified as a Primary Stroke Center by the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, the nation’s oldest and largest hospital accreditation agency.

For more information about North Fulton Regional Hospital and any of its various programs and services, visit www.northfultonregional.com or call 770-751-2500.