To that end, height-adjustable tables and automatic loaders at his
facility minimize ergonomic injuries that can be caused by bending
and lifting. "When items go into the autoclaves, they're on a cart with
a floating table," he says. "You park it up against the autoclave, press a
button, and it slides in nice and slowly and is locked in. The same
thing happens when it comes out. There's no heavy lifting, and there's
minimal human touch."
Bright lights and piped-in music also enhance the setting. "We've
provided the kind of environment where staff actually enjoy doing
the job," says Dr. Memmo.
High stakes
No job in a surgical facility is more important than making sure com-
plex instruments are perfectly reprocessed every time. A poorly
designed sterile processing department will, at best, hamper efficien-
cy. At worst, poor planning and a poor design can result in techs send-
ing improperly sterilized instruments back to the OR, a nightmare sce-
nario no facility wants to face.
OSM
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