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Film review: Basic Positioning
Film review: Basic Positioning
Basic Positioning, a 24-minute film by Jacqueline Cordner, RN, is an excellent teaching tool for introductory or refresher education programs in perioperative nursing. The film author skillfully uses schematics to define the four basic surgical positions with their variations and to depict safe patient transfer in the operating room. She describes individual differences, such as age, size, and physical limitations, that affect patient response to positioning. The film emphasizes the importance of collecting such data preoperatively to enable the nurse to anticipate and manage patient problems effectively. The film delineates four main considerations for optimum surgical positioning. Discussions of anatomy, comfort, safety, and respiratory freedom include rationale with application of theory to selected surgical procedures. For example, knowledge of anatomy enables a circulator to position a patient so that iatrogenic complications, such as peripheral nerve injury (manifested by wrist drop, foot drop, loss of sensation, or brachial plexus palsy), skin breakdown over bony prominences, and painful muscle spasms, are avoided postoperatively. The nurse uses padding and supports appropriately; she does not place an anesthetized patient who cannot protest in an anatomically abnormal position. Throughout the film, the author reinforces and reviews positioning concepts with charts. Her explanation of the safety consideration centers about the concept of preparedness.
342
The concept is illustrated first by a chart stating the components of the concept-using forethought, organizing supplies, conserving time, and preventing infection. As the author elaborates on each element, she presents components of the chart for reinforcement. This film emphasizes the fundamentals in positioning. First, positioning should be done to meet the needs of the patient as well as those of the surgeon and anesthesiologist. Second, the anesthetized patient should be positioned to avoid further compromise of his depressed vital functions. Third, it is one of the OR nurse's responsibilities to reassess and maintain the patient's optimum position throughout surgery. Although OR attire in the 1971 film is dated according to current standards, Basic Positioning is invaluable for instructors in operating room and nursing school curriculums. Using the film in conjunction with Gruendemann's The Surgical Patient: Behavioral Concepts for the Operating Room Nurse (C V Mosby, 1977) and Martin's Positioning in Anesthesia and Surgery (W B Saunders, 1978) will provide depth of knowledge for students. Basic Positioning (DG-1091) is available as a 16 mm film for a rental fee of $1 0 or as a 314 inch videocassette for purchase at $100. It may be ordered from the Surgical Film Library, Davis + Geck, One Casper St, Danbury, Conn 06810.
AORN Journal, August 1979, V o l 3 0 , No 2
Sharon Nelson, RN Audiovisual Committee
Basic Positioning, a 24-minute film by Jacqueline Cordner, RN, is an excellent teaching tool for introductory or refresher education programs in perioperative nursing. The film author skillfully uses schematics to define the four basic surgical positions with their variations and to depict safe patient transfer in the operating room. She describes individual differences, such as age, size, and physical limitations, that affect patient response to positioning. The film emphasizes the importance of collecting such data preoperatively to enable the nurse to anticipate and manage patient problems effectively. The film delineates four main considerations for optimum surgical positioning. Discussions of anatomy, comfort, safety, and respiratory freedom include rationale with application of theory to selected surgical procedures. For example, knowledge of anatomy enables a circulator to position a patient so that iatrogenic complications, such as peripheral nerve injury (manifested by wrist drop, foot drop, loss of sensation, or brachial plexus palsy), skin breakdown over bony prominences, and painful muscle spasms, are avoided postoperatively. The nurse uses padding and supports appropriately; she does not place an anesthetized patient who cannot protest in an anatomically abnormal position. Throughout the film, the author reinforces and reviews positioning concepts with charts. Her explanation of the safety consideration centers about the concept of preparedness.
342
The concept is illustrated first by a chart stating the components of the concept-using forethought, organizing supplies, conserving time, and preventing infection. As the author elaborates on each element, she presents components of the chart for reinforcement. This film emphasizes the fundamentals in positioning. First, positioning should be done to meet the needs of the patient as well as those of the surgeon and anesthesiologist. Second, the anesthetized patient should be positioned to avoid further compromise of his depressed vital functions. Third, it is one of the OR nurse's responsibilities to reassess and maintain the patient's optimum position throughout surgery. Although OR attire in the 1971 film is dated according to current standards, Basic Positioning is invaluable for instructors in operating room and nursing school curriculums. Using the film in conjunction with Gruendemann's The Surgical Patient: Behavioral Concepts for the Operating Room Nurse (C V Mosby, 1977) and Martin's Positioning in Anesthesia and Surgery (W B Saunders, 1978) will provide depth of knowledge for students. Basic Positioning (DG-1091) is available as a 16 mm film for a rental fee of $1 0 or as a 314 inch videocassette for purchase at $100. It may be ordered from the Surgical Film Library, Davis + Geck, One Casper St, Danbury, Conn 06810.
AORN Journal, August 1979, V o l 3 0 , No 2
Sharon Nelson, RN Audiovisual Committee