SPECIAL FOCUS


Has pandemic poked holes in reusable


vs. disposable product debate? COVID-19 cannibalizes consumption, causing utilization conundrum by Rick Dana Barlow


Photo credit: nndanko | stock.adobe.com O


ne of the more controversial issues lurking within the Sterile Processing realm as far back as a decade or two ago involved the reuse of single-use devices (SUDs) with the industry cleverly considering certain disposables as “reposables” regardless of Food and Drug Administration (FD) classifi cation. rovider proponents justifi ed the practice by claiming the disposable label helped manufacturers pad their profi ts from healthier sales even though manufacturers declared the disposable products they made included components and raw materials that likely could not withstand a rigorous cleaning, disinfection and/or sterilization process, which would render those single-use-only products fragile, unsafe and a potential danger to patients if used more than once.


For the last decade at least, the concept of SUDs and reposables


seemed to ebb along with the concept of fl ashing or immediate- use sterilization – carried out on a desperate, last-resort, need-to only basis.


Early last year, as healthcare organizations began to anticipate product demand spikes due to a rapidly spreading regional epidemic in East Asia that exploded within months to a full- blown, world-wide pandemic, the last resort re-opened for business for a select number of products.


Nothing like surging demand to empty shelves, clog back- order channels, magnify shortages and amplify tensions with supply chain around the access to and availability of personal protective euipment () and other related products. To make ends meet, desperate times called for desperate mea-


sures, such that a number of providers and suppliers fi gured out creative ways to encourage and implement the reprocessing of specifi c SDs, such as N respirators, for eample. This leads to a fundamental procedural question worth asking: How has the provider and supplier response to the pandemic in terms of reusing SUDs – no matter how limited or special- ized – changed opinions about the practice even as the specter of deadlier crises looms?


10 February 2021 • HEALTHCARE PURCHASING NEWS • hpnonline.com


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70