“Busy!” “Crazy!” “Barely staying afloat!” Any of these sound like a normal day in your CS/SPD department? Yeah, I thought so. And do you want to know why I’m not surprised? Because few days go by when I don’t have that same sinking feeling, like I’ve got concrete blocks tied to both of my feet…
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Let me just start this by saying there is no easy path or magic bullet for ensuring your department is ready for a Joint Commission, DNV, state health department or CMS survey. As ready as you think you are, there can always be hidden issues lurking behind the next page of documentation or varying levels of…
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Imagine you work the cash register at a local retail chain (Target, Walmart, Macy’s, whatever). And every night as you count out your cash on hand, you happen to come up a couple hundred of dollars short. But here’s where you really have to use your imagination: Imagine if everyone knew your were short, but…
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One bad apple can spoil the bunch. And one mad surgeon can, well, we all know what one mad surgeon can do . . . And there are few better ways to set off a stressed out surgeon than to consistently fail him or her in the area of surgical instrumentation. Whether it’s a set…
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(This is the second installment of a short series of articles focused on surgical instrument quality, repair, and refurbishment from the perspective of a UK instrument manufacturer and repair professional [Daniel Coole] and a US sterile processing consultant [Hank Balch]). Daniel Coole: Refurbishment of surgical instrument trays seems like something that should be happening and…
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(This is the third installment of a short series of articles focused on surgical instrument quality, repair, and refurbishment from the perspective of a UK instrument manufacturer and repair professional [Daniel Coole] and a US sterile processing consultant [Hank Balch]). Daniel Coole: New instruments are manufactured from stainless steel and may appear to be robust,…
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(This is the first installment of a short series of articles focused on surgical instrument quality, repair, and refurbishment from the perspective of a UK instrument manufacturer and repair professional [Daniel Coole] and a US sterile processing consultant [Hank Balch]). Daniel Coole: Would you stir you coffee with this (surgical instrument)? I love this question…
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Few people realize the true scope of potential harm in an every day visit to a local clinic, until you see a headline like this hit the news. Is it anecdotal? Well, yes, in the sense that it’s a potential outbreak and not a research project. But it’s also important to note that no patient…
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Your surgical volume is increasing. The all-star surgeons were successfully recruited from the competitors across town. Your facility earned Magnet status, recently made some kind of US News & World Report Best Hospital list, and you even passed your last accreditation survey. Bravo. All is well with the world, right? Well, not so fast. Chances…
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3…2…1… The door to decontamination opens. In walk three strangers with bunny suits and clipboards in hand, followed closely by an anxious looking Perioperative Director, with eyes darting back and forth across the empty case carts and stacks of contaminated surgical trays. And there YOU stand… Maybe you’re the frontline Sterile Processing technician who just…
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