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F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 4 | O U T P AT 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
C
osts can
go
through
the roof when
surgical sup-
plies hit the
floor and sterility is compro-
mised. But you can recoup
some of that potential waste
by saving those tools and
using them for other purposes. In my 19 years as a surgical technolo-
gist, I've seen it happen many times. Whether it's a nervous pre-op
nurse, an inexperienced student or just someone having a bad day,
supplies get dropped or knocked off the surgical back table and have
to be put out of commission. Sometimes someone opens the wrong
supply, or a surgery gets canceled at the last minute. All of those situ-
ations are potentially wasteful if you automatically throw those
things away. Plus, if I need to open new sterile supplies when I'm
training new employees, there's additional waste.
So instead of just tossing the supplies that can't be used, I add them
to what I call my training tray, or we send them to a local college for
their training classes. The spoiled supplies aren't wasted, and I don't
have to open new packages to conduct my training sessions.
Patra Luangsuwan, CST
Lakeshore Surgery Center
Croswell, Mich.
patrafd@gmail.com
WASTE NOT … Supplies can still be use-
ful, even if you can't use them during surgery.
TRAINING DAY
Surgical Supplies: Down But Not Out
Patra
Luangsuwan,
CST
IDEAS
That Work
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