gives them an oppor-
tunity to see how
instruments are
used during surgery
and meet members
of the surgical team,
including the sur-
geons," says Ms.
Prince. "The best
surgeons pay the
most attention to
those people when
they come into the
room because they
know how important they are."
Surgical techs and nurses must also complete ongoing competencies
to demonstrate that they pretreat instruments properly with enzymatic
cleaner and string sharps together to limit injury risks for reprocessing
techs. Ms. Prince also explains why bioburden makes instruments
impossible to sterilize, a factor she says many OR staff don't fully com-
prehend.
• Maintain productivity. Reprocessing techs should be able to
close their eyes and know where a specific brush or cleaning pad is
located as they move between workstations. Techs also shouldn't
have to leave their workstations to walk across the room to grab
the supplies they need to decontaminate instruments — they should
be able to stand at their workstations and be productive on an
ongoing basis. To help them maintain that level of productivity,
assign a dedicated staff member who can do the running for them
to make sure everyone has everything they need to do their jobs
3 8 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 9
• ON THE MOVE Deliver case carts to sterile processing as soon as they're filled with
dirty instruments to maintain a continuous workflow.
Pamela
Bevelhymer,
RN,
BSN,
CNOR
