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longer, more tedious and more expensive than it needed to be, says
Ms. Brown. And now? "Everything we need is at our fingertips and
our room turnover times have decreased," she says. "As far as infection control compliance is concerned, you can't beat the kits."
Her customized endo turnover kits come with a leakproof cinch pad
that makes it easier for techs to carry scopes to the soiled scope
room. They used to transport scopes in Rubbermaid bins. "Too cumbersome," says Ms. Brown. Now, techs lay the cinch pad over the cart,
tighten the drawstring and carry the scope out of the room. Her kits
also contain a small, square water bowl for water, a cleaning brush, a
tube of lubricant, 2 disposable gowns and 4x4 gauze.
Her turnover times dropped from 4 or 5 minutes for bedside cleaning to 90 seconds. "It is so fast. You open up the kit. Everything's right
there. It's done," says Mr. Brown. "The fewer steps you take every day,
the less tired you are. And infection control loves it. Single-patient use
means there's no crossover contamination."
Tumbling turnover times
Ms. Maverick wanted her GI case turnover time to be 5 minutes, but it
was always creeping up toward 8 to 10 minutes. She credits turnover
kits with getting her back under the 5-minute mark. "Even when we
stored the supplies in bath basins, it still took us longer than we'd
like," she says.
As an added benefit, patients are guaranteed clean supplies every
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O U T PAT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E | M A R C H 2013
