Because scopes have a
limited time they can hang
in storage before having to
be disinfected again, so
you certainly don't want
too many in your inventory.
But, obviously, you need to
have enough to keep up
with your caseload. We
have two procedure rooms
and perform 12 procedures
in each room per day. We
have six upper scopes and
six colonoscopes, as well as two pediatric scopes. They're all used fre-
quently, but our reprocessing process is efficient enough that we
never find ourselves delaying procedures to wait for scopes. We were
even able to keep procedures moving recently when we sent two
scopes out for repair at the same time.
Help wanted
We believe our sterile processing techs have the most important job in
our center. We're committed to keeping them satisfied, which isn't
always easy considering the repetitive nature of their job, the close
quarters in which they work and the stress of keeping up with repro-
cessing demands of a high-volume facility. Providing them with tech-
nologies designed to make their jobs easier — and improve patient
care — is one way to keep them continuing to work hard behind the
scenes at improving patient care.
OSM
8 8 • 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 2 0
• DRY TIME Automated endoscope reprocessors perform an alcohol flush
of a scope's internal channels to prepare the instrument for storage.
Ms. Beaver (lbeaver@uspi.com) is the administrator of Gateway Endoscopy
Center in St. Louis, Mo.
