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Flash less than 4% of the time.
It should never be a routine practice.
through rapid cycles, consider buying more of those items if you expect the trends to continue.
Buying more of the instruments you already have in stock might not be the sexiest choice when it comes to allocating budgeted dollars, but ensuring you have enough of the tools in regular use helps avoid immediate-use sterilization. Ticking items off of surgeons' wish lists is nice, but hard decisions have to be made out of respect for a more important consideration: patient safety.
Ms. Stoutzenberger (plstoutz@lghealth.org) is the manager of central sterile supply at Lancaster (Pa.) General Hospital.
