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handle 1 tray, 2 trays or more — it all comes down to efficiency."
And keep in mind, says Dr. Schabowsky, that faster doesn't neces-
sarily mean better or more economical. "You might have a vendor say
his machine can do a load in 20 minutes while another takes 60," he
cautions. "But the question then becomes, how big is your load com-
pared to the other vendor. If the 60-minute load is 4 times as large,
then the 60-minute cycle has better throughput."
Another warning: Be alert when vendors say their machines use
"30% less" water or "40% less" electricity. "I'd be cautious about where
they're getting those percentages from," says Ms. Maleski. "Are they
comparing new machines to much older, much less efficient
machines? People like to play with numbers that way, but it all comes
down to gallons of water and units of electricity. They should be able
to document those."
Instrument tracking
and documentation
Newer washers, with the ability to recognize bar-
codes, can enhance personal accountability and
ensure that instruments are actually washed and
sterilized.
"If you ever identify an issue with an instrument, where something
didn't get cleaned properly, hopefully you can sequester the instru-
ment before it's ever used," says Dr. Schabowsky. "And if, unfortunate-
ly, it has been used, you can identify patients and contact them to let
know what happened."
For now, barcodes are typically the key to traceability, but radio-fre-
quency identification (RFID), which uses electromagnetic fields to
track tags attached to objects, will be the next big thing, says Dr.
Schabowsky. "It's a line-of-sight issue. Scanners need to be able to
S T E R I L E P R O C E S S I N G
