Outpatient Surgery Magazine

Special Outpatient Surgery Edition - Infection Control - May 2019

Outpatient Surgery Magazine, providing current information on Surgical Services, Surgical Facility Administration, Outpatient Surgery News and Trends, OR Excellence and more.

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Surgery's Dirty Little Secret A closer look at why contaminated instruments continue to turn up in too many ORs. 2 2 • 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 Y 2 0 1 9 A Google news search of "dirty surgical instruments" will turn up several examples of surgeons allegedly operat- ing on patients with soiled tools, including the highly publicized sterility issues that plagued Detroit (Mich.) Medical Center. How could that possibly happen? Gail Horvath, MSN, RN, CNOR, CRCST, senior patient safety analyst and consultant at ECRI Institute in Plymouth Meeting Pa., offers some insights. Her recent analysis of contaminated surgical instrument reports submitted to ECRI Institute by 123 hospitals identified several factors that can lead to reprocessing errors. How many need to be addressed in your facility? Joe Paone | Senior Associate Editor • TOUGH JOB Sterile processing departments are handling increasing numbers of complex instruments that are more difficult to clean and sterilize. Pamela Bevelhymer, RN, BSN, CNOR

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