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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fourth (27%) of the respondents say their staff never test the effective- ness of their scope cleaning practices. However, nearly half (47.5%) say their techs always use on-the-spot testing and another 14% say they employ the tests at least some of the time, which indicates they comply with the guidelines. • Scope storage. Facilities can determine how long their scopes can be stored without having to be reprocessed based on the complexity of their scopes, the quality of their storage cabinets and how many care- givers have access to the stored inventory. Half (49.5%) of our respon- dents say they reprocess already disinfected scopes that have been stored for 5 days, one-third (31.4%) reprocess scopes that have been stored for more than 5 days and 9% reprocess scopes that have been stored for 3 days. Teamwork matters Shelly Hoffman, RN, BSN, MASL, director at the Gastrointestinal Associates Endoscopy Center in Wausau, Wis., says a reprocessing room equipped with the latest technology is only as effective as the reprocessing techs that work in the area: "It's all about committing to the techs by giving them the right tools to use, but also the education to master those tools and the support they need to perform their jobs with pride." The 6 techs who work at her center form a small, close-knit group that provides each other with constant constructive criticism as they look for new and better ways to reprocess scopes. "The peer-to-peer review is constant," says Ms. Hoffman. "Everyone has an incredible sense of ownership in what they do, and that makes a big difference." One of the keys to their success is a staffing model that lets them rotate through several jobs during the week. One day a tech assists physicians in the procedure room, and staff in pre- and post-proce- 1 3 0 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 6