MAYWOOD, IL – Loyola University Medical Center (LUMC) has received the Association of PeriOperative Nurses (AORN) Go Clear Award – Gold Recognition Level. LUMC is the first in the Chicago area and fourth in the state of Illinois to achieve this recognition.

The AORN Go Clear Award program is a comprehensive surgical smoke-free recognition program to ensure a smoke-free environment wherever surgical smoke is generated (from laser devices and electrical surgical units used in operating rooms) to protect patient and worker safety. Components of the program include testing, interprofessional education, gap analysis and compliance monitoring.

"This achievement is especially significant to LUMC as it was a nurse-driven initiative supported by our surgeons and anesthesia teams," said Timothy M. Carrigan, PhD, RN, chief nursing officer for LUMC. "We are very proud of each team's attention to creating a safe work environment in our operating rooms."

Gold recognition is awarded to institutions meeting 90% compliance with surgical smoke evacuation, and we are proud to report that Loyola is at 95% compliance. This initiative was born from the OR Best Practice and OR Safety Committees in late 2019 and fully implemented mid-2020.

About Loyola Medicine

Loyola Medicine, a member of Trinity Health, is a nationally ranked academic, quaternary care system based in Chicago's western suburbs. The three-hospital system includes Loyola University Medical Center (LUMC), Gottlieb Memorial HospitalMacNeal Hospital, as well as convenient locations offering primary care, specialty care and immediate care services from nearly 2,000 physicians throughout Cook, Will and DuPage counties. LUMC is a 547-licensed-bed hospital in Maywood that includes the William G. and Mary A. Ryan Center for Heart & Vascular Medicine, the Cardinal Bernardin Cancer Center, the John L. Keeley, MD, Emergency Department, a Level 1 trauma center, Illinois's largest burn center, the Nancy W. Knowles Orthopaedic Institute, a certified comprehensive stroke centertransplant center and a children’s hospital. Having delivered compassionate care for over 50 years, Loyola also trains the next generation of caregivers through its academic affiliation with Loyola University Chicago’s Stritch School of Medicine and Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing.   

For more information, visit loyolamedicine.org. You can also follow Loyola Medicine on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram or X (formerly known as Twitter).

About Trinity Health

Trinity Health is one of the largest not-for-profit, faith-based health care systems in the nation. It is a family of 127,000 colleagues and more than 38,300 physicians and clinicians caring for diverse communities across 26 states. Nationally recognized for care and experience, the Trinity Health system includes 93 hospitals, 107 continuing care locations, the second largest PACE program in the country, 142 urgent care locations and many other health and well-being services. In fiscal year 2024, the Livonia, Michigan-based health system invested $1.3 billion in its communities in the form of charity care and other community benefit programs. For more information, visit us at www.trinity-health.org, or follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, and X (formerly known as Twitter).