Outpatient Surgery Magazine, providing current information on Surgical Services, Surgical Facility Administration, Outpatient Surgery News and Trends, OR Excellence and more.
Issue link: http://outpatientsurgery.uberflip.com/i/636774
9 2 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 6 Improving the communication between sterile process- ing departments and surgical teams is critical. Often the sides don't fully appreciate the pressures each is working under. We've taken steps to break down those communi- cation barriers. Our hospital assigns lead nurses to each surgical specialty, and leadership here in sterile process- ing has many meetings with them to keep the lines of communication open. The nurse leaders consult with us when purchasing new equipment and communicate reprocessing-related issues that we might be able to address and solve. We view the surgical department as our customer, and our job is to understand their needs. At the same time, the surgical teams have to appreciate what it takes to properly reprocess instruments, and can't put unrealistic expectations on our abilities to turn around a high vol- ume of instruments in a short amount of time. Specialty instruments and trays present a unique challenge. Many of our surgeons, especial- ly in our joint replacement program, require specialized tools to perform procedures. Specialists in our sterile processing department dedicate their time to coordinating with ven- dors to ensure instrument sets are in-house when needed and reprocessed in time for cases. When setting our department's polices and procedures, we follow regulations established by the state department of health, OSHA, IAHCSMM, the Joint Commission, AORN and AAMI. We also work closely with an infection preventionist who's assigned to the surgical and sterile pro- cessing departments. Our infection control policies are generally more stringent than national policies and practices. We also work closely with leaders from other departments throughout the hospital to self- audit our performance. The team of leaders rounds through the department, looking for areas where we can improve. They often catch the little things that can get overlooked when you walk by them every day. It's a valuable exercise for our department, and also provides opportu- nity to pull back the curtain on what we do and to develop a rapport with leaders from other departments throughout the hospital. — Mark Voigt Bridging the Gap Between the OR and Sterile Processing • UNSUNG HEROES Does your OR team appreciate what the reprocessing staff does to get instruments ready for use? St. Cloud Hospital