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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1 3 0 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 | J U N E 2 0 1 4 1. Instrument washing Mark Lunz, director of the surgical processing department at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center's Presbyterian Hospital, has always had the benefit of working with automated washers, but the tall task of turning around instruments and devices is more challenging than ever, even with the cleaning assistance. "The big challenge is everything is so specialized," says the 20-year veteran of instrument reprocessing. "Every service has unique instrumentation for every procedure." The tools of surgery are first and foremost designed for function, with how easy they are to clean seemingly an afterthought. "We're usually the last group to be considered," says Mr. Lunz, matter-of-factly. "It's a fast- paced environment. Just to keep the instrument flow moving throughout the assembly line is challenge enough." Enter the department's automated washers. They help his 42 repro- cessing techs decontaminate instrument sets from upwards of 120 cases a day. Last March, as an indication of the department's volume, they assembled 9,300 trays and touched 327,000 instruments from UPMC Presbyterian and UPMC Montefiore, hospitals separated by a city block and connected by a walking bridge. Automated cart washers work like car washes, with different cham- bers engaging the instruments in the various stages of cleaning: pre- wash with enzymatic cleaner, general wash, pure water rinse and final dry cycle. "All the chambers can be running at the same time, so there's nice throughput," explains Mr. Lunz. Upright washers engage instruments with the same functions, but without the added benefit of moving them through quickly in line. Some in-line cleaners have an ultrasonic chamber that submerges robotic, laparoscopic or items with moving joints into a tank of water through which sound waves are pumped to create tiny air bubbles that dislodge matter from the nooks and crannies that manual brush- S T A F F S A T I S F A C T I O N Peer Reviewed Proven Results: 53% Reduction in C.diff infection rates 1 57% Reduction in MRSA infection rates 2 O VRE recovered in isolation rooms 3 25% faster than chemical cleaning 4 Published Peer Reviewed Outcome Studies: 1. Cooley Dickinson in AJIC, 2. Cone Health System in JIP, 3. M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in ICHE, 4. Study at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center presented at IPS London 2013. No one wants to be sick twice. Eliminating pathogens from patient rooms is the quickest and easiest way to lower the risk of additional infections. Hospitals have reported lower-facility wide HAI rates a! er implementing the Xenex system, reducing costly readmissions and patient stays they incur. " Using a combination of tools and technologies, including Xenex's room disinfection system, we were able to reduce our MRSA infections to zero in our ICUs and save more than $2 million." – Terrance Akin, COO, Cone Health ™ THE!ONLY!PULSED#XENON#UV#DISINFECTION#SYSTEM$#PATENTED xenex.com | 888-966-9753 | info@xenex.com | NOT#ALL#UV#IS#THE#SAME%#CONTACT#US#TO#LEARN#MORE% OSE_1406_part2_Layout 1 6/13/14 11:42 AM Page 130