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Plan to expand
The more space you can
reasonably designate for
sterile processing, the better. The
original plan for the WVU
Medicine Berkeley Medical
Center in Martinsburg, W.Va.,
which opened in early 2018, was
to handle gastroenterology and
ophthalmology cases exclusively.
But before long the center was
also performing neurosurgery,
urology, gynecology and pain
management procedures.
With additional service lines
came a previously unanticipated
need for new equipment. "Now we're a full-service surgery center, so
we've had to make some changes, including adding a washer-disinfec-
tor and autoclave," says Nicole Sinsebox, RN, director of outpatient
surgery at the center. "We had to run additional lines for washers,
which meant we had to block off the area so they could do the con-
struction. That caused some delays."
Lesson learned. "I'd suggest to people who are opening new centers
that they plan for more than what their original scope was," says Ms.
Sinsebox, "because there are definitely additional costs associated
with changing the original design of the central sterile area."
It also pays to be absolutely certain that architects, builders and
reps are on the same page. "We should have gotten better information
from our reps as to where piping and water connectors needed to be,"
explains Ms. Sinsebox. "At the last minute we had to do some recon-
6 0 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • M A R C H 2 0 1 9
• ON A ROLL Height-adjustable tables and automatic loaders
are ergonomic solutions that help techs keep instruments
moving.
Orthopedic
Associates
of
Hartford
Surgery
Center
