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A Deep Dive Into Surface Disinfection - October 2017 - Subscribe to Outpatient Surgery Magazine

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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Help Your Reprocessors Do the Right Thing Give your techs the training and the tools they need to bust those bugs. O ne unseen Fogarty insert that makes its way back to the OR can cost your facility upwards of $10,000 if it's discovered on the sterile field, not to mention the unthinkable possibil- ity of the instrument being reused on an unknowing patient. But how do you ensure that your first line of defense against processing breakdowns — your central sterile area — will stop these dangers in their tracks? If you make it easy for your reprocessors to do the right thing, more often than not, they will. Here are some ways to do just that. Stock the armory: it's tool time! As a decontamination techni- cian, nothing's more frustrating than to be asked to do a job, but not have the tools you need to do the job well. Flush every cannula. But how? Brush every suction. With what? When your team walks into the decontamination area to start the day, it should be fully stocked with every processing tool they'll need to complete the task laid before them: mass microbial destruction. At the very least, you should have the fol- lowing: brushes of proper style, diameter and length (including pass- through brushes), adequate flushing technologies (a low-tech hose or 1 1 2 2 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 7 Infection Prevention Weston "Hank" Balch, CRCST, CIS, CHL • STOCKED, LOCKED + LOADED Is your decontamination area stocked with every processing tool your techs need to do their jobs?

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