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/771117
we never have to touch a tray from the time it's been wrapped to the time it's delivered to the OR. And a tray you don't have to touch is a tray that stays sterile. Here's how our one-piece flow system works. We place the wrapped tray on a silicone mat, which keeps it from sliding around during trans- port. Then, we place the tray and mat on top of a stainless steel carrier, which is about 12-by-24 inches and looks like an oven rack. On each end of this carrier is a hole, about 2-by-4 inches, for putting your fin- gers through. This lets you pick up the carrier without disturbing the tray or its contents. Using these holes, we lift the whole thing up and place it on a stainless steel transport cart, which looks like a baker's rack. We can fit about 12 carriers here, each on its own shelf, so that no tray touches any other tray. When it's time, we wheel the cart to the OR. This is a whole new concept, and it's working. In 9 months, we've encountered only 3 holes in our wrap, which works out to be a rela- tively negligible percentage. (Typically, holes might occur in 2 to 3% of total cases.) I've worked at a level-one trauma unit, a large offsite processing center and now this ambulatory setting, and this process could work in every situation I've experienced. Another check in the sterile wrap column is the continuing evolution of sterile wrap material. As recently as 2008, I was using wrap made of muslin. Now, it's a flexible polyester blend that improves barrier effec- tiveness, and generally makes the wrapping process easier (read: no tangled arms). Within the last 5 years, we've also seen reinforced cor- ners, since these are the areas most susceptible to damage. Even with these advancements, however, the psychological element remains — because they are sturdier, sealed containers are perceived as less vulnerable to contamination. And even though this is a factual- J a n u a r y 2 0 1 7 • O U T PA T I E N TS U R G E R Y. N E T • 1 0 9