down to our sterile processing department, they've
actually said, "Oh, my gosh, I had no idea you had
to walk this far!" and "I can't believe the phone
rings that much!"
You never know what your coworkers are going
through until you're in their shoes. The OR will
often schedule cases back to back to back, even
though there's only one instrument tray available
for all three cases. When the day of surgery comes,
the surgical team is asking the SPD why the tray
isn't ready, unaware there is only one tray and it
takes four hours to reprocess. They're frantically
calling the department manager, saying the patient
is on the table and the surgeon is upset. As soon as
the OR mentions the patient, members of the repro-
cessing team start to feel an enormous amount of
pressure to get the tray back to the OR as quickly as
possible. These types of situations can be prevented
if both departments learn to work with, not against,
each other.
M e d i c a l
Developing the Solutions For You
(800)
843-3343
• www.Certol.com
Mr. DeLuca (william.deluca@mountsinai.org)
is director of the sterile processing department at
Mount Sinai West in New York City.
Total team effort
Educating providers on the importance of point-of-
use cleaning is essential. It allows reprocessing
techs to do their jobs more efficiently and effective-
ly, which impacts many aspects of surgical care
and, most importantly, patient safety.
Creating that awareness helps the OR staff
become more invested in the precleaning process,
but fostering teamwork between the two depart-
ments does take time and effort. Instituting a pro-
gram where OR staff and reprocessing techs rotate
through the other department to observe their col-
leagues in action creates a better understanding of
the responsibilities team members face in each area
and ultimately leads to greater workplace harmony
and improved instrument care.
OSM
