SELF-STUDY SERIES
to shorten turnover times and lead to better OR efficiency can potentially help strengthen the surgical revenue stream. racing systems often allow you to flag instrument trays and devices that need to be expedited for upcoming surgical cases. A list of priority trays for the days cases can be viewed on computer worstations or large screen displays in your department. essages can be configured to alert staff of priority sets as they are scanned throughout the department. ore advanced tracing systems give you
the ability to interface your solution with your facilitys electronic medical record (R) system so that your list of needed items is automatically populated at the be- ginning of each day. his gives your staff the ability to more proactively manage the wor they need to do. any systems also include loaner order features that give you the ability to document loaner trays as they come into your department and give you the tools to help you to treat loaners more lie your own instrumentation.
Instrument inclusion and maintenance n addition to facilitating the expedited movement of priority trays, tracing systems can also help to ensure complete case sets. f an instrument is missing, on-screen as- sembly features can be configured to show equivalent or substitute instruments. Staff can use these lists to find facility-approved substitutes if a desired instrument is not present in the tray. A required instrument can be flagged in the system, and if it is missing from the build, the tray cannot be completed. n contrast, when non-required instruments are missing, labels can be printed that list each instrument that is not included on the outside of the tray. his helps reduce guesswor in the OR and deters staff from opening a sterile tray if it will not meet the case need. issing instruments also appear on reports so that they can be found or replaced more easily by management. reventive maintenance tracing and documentation is also supported by many tracing systems. reventive maintenance can be documented in the system, and some systems also allow you to create maintenance reminder messages based on usage or time. sage-based reminders allow you to set the maximum number of times a set can be used before required maintenance, and the trac- ing system counts how many times a tray is used. imely maintenance can help prolong the useful life of an instrument or device, and thus can help save money and preserve department resources. rays that are used more frequently will be serviced more often, while trays that are used less often can be
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maintained less frequently only when they need it. anagers can document completed maintenance in the software, and this data can be used to create a complete maintenance history for department sets. he case cart building feature in tracing systems can be the final checpoint to assure complete sets before they are delivered to the surgical department. When a case pic list is reviewed as part of this step and a needed item is missing from sterile storage, staff can easily add that item to the expedite list to help other staff now that its a priority item needed to complete the set. f an R interfaces with a tracing system, nown case requirements are automatically populated, providing a head start with pro- cessing nown case needs. his proactive feature can help move a department away from less efficient first-in, first-out processing. As a technician adds sets to the case cart
for a procedure and documents it in the system, those items are automatically lined with that case. he sets become associated with a specific case and patient on a specific day and time. his lining gives you the ability to more easily trace devices and trays during a root cause investigation and can provide evidence that your facility is con- forming to industry set tracing standards.3
Reporting and decision-support features A root cause investigation is one example of a process that can be supported by tracing system reporting and decision-support fea- tures. n addition, audit reports can provide immediate indications of overall compliance for internal or oint Commission audits, and they can also be reviewed daily to help ensure completeness of sterility assurance documentation. here are also reports that can show all
data connected to a particular case. nstru- ment sets are tied to specific case s in the software, which allows users to more easily trace those sets to an individual patient. And if there is concern about a case cart or tray in the OR, this same traceability can allow man- agers to wor bacwards/upstream in the process to demonstrate that the items used on a case were processed properly and that they met standards and policy requirements at every point in the reprocessing chain. Some tracing systems include dashboard reporting features that can be configured to show specific ey performance indicators on computer worstation screens or large displays. hese dashboards and s can display trends in departmental data such as the total sterilizer loads run each day for the last wee. hey can also show information about what is currently happening, lie the number of users logged in, or how many
28 May 2020 • HEALTHCARE PURCHASING NEWS •
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add-on cases have been documented in the last few hours. here are also functions available that
allow you to better determine the total cost of ownership of your surgical sets. For ex- ample, these value-of-production features let you see the cost of reprocessing each tray in your department. hey can also highlight the cost of quality issues and can help you to better discuss the value of your department in financial terms. hese features reports can help you to see the total cost of cases and provide evidence for right-sizing your device inventory. roductivity monitoring functions provide reports on staff competencies and quality events to help identify areas where staff may need additional training. roductivity reports can also inform your scheduling process by helping to identify where staff are most needed. When combined with information from processing volume reports, the data can be used to build the case for additional Fs.
Making the most of instrument management software our sterile processing information system can support much more than basic trac and trace functions. he additional features can provide the information to help optimize re- processing consistency, quality, productivity and compliance. By investigating the unused or underused features available to you, you can put your information system to wor to help you achieve a shining reputation among your infection prevention staeholders and hospital customers. o learn more about any features you
are not currently using in your instrument tracing solution, review your software docu- mentation and guides and tal with your software representative. heir experts can help you identify features to implement with department staff and can help you present the benefits to ey staeholders within your facility to gain support and cooperation. HPN
References
1. Ellis, Kris. 2005. Automating Central Sterile: Instrument Tracking Systems in Action. Infection Control Today. April 1, 2005.
2. Smith, Ebony. 2020. Ready, set, go: Staying on track with OR scheduling, turnover. Healthcare Purchasing News. January 23, 2020.
3. Waters-Davis, Lisa. 2009. Protect Your Patients and Facility with Instrument Tracking. Infection Control Today. February 27, 2009.
Amanda Prussing, BS, CCSVP is the Manager of Education and Training for Sterile Process- ing Management at STERIS Corporation. She conducts all new and ongoing employee training for the SPM software, leads and helps to develop most SPM customer we- binars, and can be heard in their training and marketing videos.
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