M A R C H 2 0 1 7 O U T P A T I E N TS U R G E R Y. N E T 3 1
of your reprocessing team.
For example, regulations dictate that the top of stacked instrument trays in
the sterile storage area should sit at least 18 inches below the ceiling. Our stacks
are well below that safe threshold, because I don't want members of my team
lifting 25 pounds worth of equipment over their heads. In addition, each instru-
Some facilities prefer to keep paper
records of sterilization cycles to track
instrument use, but doing so requires
allotting significant storage space into the
department's design. Barcoded instru-
ment tracking is a space-saving solution that also makes inputting and analyzing
reprocessing data more convenient. If the integrity of an instrument is questioned
or an infection occurs, we can easily review when the item was reprocessed, who
did the reprocessing and during which cases it was used. And because we're able
to conduct electronic monitoring and tracking of each reprocessing step —
decontamination, assembly, sterilization and storage — we've reduced the
amount of time spent determining where instruments are in the reprocessing
process.
We use the system to track instrument usage in order to determine which tools
are being used the most and where we need to invest in additional instrumentation.
We're also able to produce reports on individual employee productivity and can
track the volume of work the entire department is performing in a given hour, day,
week, month or year.
— Mark Voigt
PAPERLESS TRAIL
Instrument Tracking
Drills Down to the Details
• CLOSE WATCH Tracking instrument usage will inform
you when it's time to invest in additional tools.
Mark
Voigt
