to 5 or 7 minutes to allow for
stairs or elevator transport.
Missing this target could
mean that your inventory
storage is not well organized
or that staff need more train-
ing on search functions in
your tracking system.
Customer satisfaction
While one of the more
difficult metrics to measure,
customer satisfaction from
your users is a critical marker
for overall success in your
department. Emailing your
OR team and surgeons a sur-
vey at various intervals. "On
a scale of 1-10, how satisfied are you with the service you received
from our sterile processing department?" can be enough to establish
a baseline grade.
Rejection rates & missing indicators
Measuring your department's packaging rejection rates and
missing indicators will give you insight into potential care and han-
dling issues during sterilization, storage, case picking and transport,
as well as possible assembly workflow interruptions or distractions
that could cause staff to forget to insert chemical indicators in their
trays. We all know that a surgical tray cannot be used if the sterile
packaging is compromised in any way — such as a rip, tear, puncture,
6
5
A U G U S T 2 0 1 9 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y. N E T • 1 9
• STARTS IN SURGERY Removing bioburden begins during and
immediately after surgical procedures in the precleaning process.
Pamela
Bevelhymer,
RN,
BSN,
CNOR
