OSE_1309_part2_Layout 1 9/6/13 12:23 PM Page 75
2013
Awards
Joyce Mackler, RN, MSN, CASC
help jogs their memories about particular cases. Your physicians must
simply indicate which patients
developed complications, note their
interventions and sign and date the
HEADS UP Hang reprocessing
forms. Place the documents in folddirections where they're needed most.
ers and hand them to your docs.
Include a handwritten note thank- Joyce Mackler, RN, MSN, CASC.
ing them for their time.
"We reviewed all our manufacturers' directions and compared them
Chart Keeps Reprocessing to our current procedures, and
Staff On Track
decided it was a good idea to highSeaford (Del.) Endoscopy Center
light the key steps," she explains.
Hang a quick-reference chart in
The table should note how each
your reprocessing room that details piece is pre-cleaned, manually
the necessary steps for reprocess- cleaned or cleaned with ultraing all the equipment used in your
sound, lubricated, packaged and
facility, says Center Manager
sterilized.
ment. They note concerns in a spreadsheet to track resolutions, and
also agree on responsibilities for the OR and central sterile staffs.
Members of the OR team, for example, must check that needed items
aren't already in peel packs in the OR before calling central sterile to
make a request. They must meet a central sterile tech halfway between
the OR and reprocessing area to grab fast-tracked items. They must
check all ORs and substerile rooms at day's end and return all leftover
instruments and peel packs to central sterile for reprocessing.
Among the central sterile staff's responsibilities: Look at the total
number of instrument types instead of the total number of instruments
when assembling sets to avoid incomplete trays being sent back to the
S E P T E M B E R 2013 | O U T PAT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E
7 5
