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/771120
Fear of change While sealed sterilization containers have been on the market for more than 30 years, they are still the newer option (some may even say "newfangled"), and some people will avoid working with a tool simply because it is different than what they're used to. Many of my peers feel this way. I get it — change can be scary. But what's even scarier is overlooking flaws in the old standby equipment. While the wrap and sealed options have a lot in common — they have the same shelf life, and both include chemical indicators that denote a clean tray — there's one major difference: Sterilization wrap punctures. It can easily get snagged on corners when an instrument tray is slid off a rack, for example. And tape can break when someone is moving quickly — an occupational necessity — and mishandles a tray. While some professionals will tell you these pitfalls can be avoid- ed simply by putting the right process in place, I don't know of any process that removes the hole issue, well, wholly. On the other hand, most sealed containers are made of an aluminum alloy, so tearing isn't a factor. Sure, you may see a broken lock occa- sionally, but these instances are few and far between. In fact, whenev- er we encounter a contaminated tray, 95% of the time it's a wrapped tray that's the culprit. And I know first-hand how much a sterility issue can hold up a surgery. Over the course of my 40-year healthcare career, I've worked as a corpsman in the Navy, assisting in surgery while deployed in Okinawa; an OR tech; an organ transplant techni- cian; and a physician assistant. Plus, sterilization wrap leaves a lot of lint behind, which — unless you're a fan of dust bunnies — is just plain annoying. Sustainability factor It's no secret that sealed containers are the greener option. But I don't 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 1 3