PERISCOPE


SPD and COVID-19 – what have we learned, if anything?


by Jean Sargent W


hat a year it has been. Last May I wrote about your “quaranteam” and how you were faring amidst the pandemic during those fi rst few months. ittle did we know the toll it would take on us in Sterile rocessing  Distri bution SD personally and professionally. So, what have we learned that will take us through the next crisis  be it another pandemic or something else? e have been in crisis situations where we are overwhelmed


with patients, trauma, mechanical issues andor weather events and we have policies and procedures in place to direct us on how to respond. Suddenly, this time we have no surgeries, except for emergencies. ecause fewer were driving, auto accidents were minimied. or the most part the world was shut down. It was eerie. This repre sented a very different form of crisis for which we did not have policies. What did your department do with


PERISCOPE by Jean Sargent


this opportunity of time? any checked for outdated instruments, trays and supplies, then cleaned the department andor reorganied. ducation is always important. Did you take this opportunity to have education sessions or work on getting staff certifi ed? It was also a good time to review manufacturer instructions for use I to ensure proper instrument care and testing verifi cation products are on hand to meet the instruments’ IFUs. Were staff reduced due to lack of work or reas signed to help with IDrelated issues in other departments? e all had to be ready to respond to the unknown. s the world began to reopen a fraction at a time, we found ourselves responding to new issues on a daily or weekly basis. The personal protective equipment  shortages emerged early on. hat processes were put into place to extend the wear of ? How uncomfortable were you with this situation? e were told to sterilie selected masks  mainly  respirator models. y fi rst instinct was to go back to the basics that I learned and taught ou cant sterilie it if it isnt clean. There was no I on how to clean a disposable mask. anufacturers scrambled to devise methods to clean and sterilie masks. owns were also in short supply. The cost of an isolation gown umped to . from  cents each. onsidering the volumes of gowns, the toll this had on the budget was enormous. ext were gloves. ere you asked to reuse gloves to have something to use rather than running short or having nothing at all?


edia traced the novel coronavirus, known as COVID-19, to an outbreak that reportedly stemmed from a market in Wuhan, China in December 2019. Where were you when you heard about it? What was your reaction? I, like many others, thought, “oh no, look what is happening in China!” As we followed the news and watched people with the virus being forcefully pulled from their homes, we never thought the U.S., let alone the rest of the world, would be dealing with the virus and all of the disruption it has caused in our lives. During the next few months, the speed at which the virus spread seemed like a tsunami pounding the coastline so quickly that we were unable to prepare for the rapidly rising fl oodwaters. How is the virus spread? How long does it last? How do we test for it? What kind of personal protective equipment (PPE) do we need? Do we need a different type of cleaner and detergent? What does the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) suggest? What happens when we do not have all – or as many of – the facts? Oftentimes we panic and begin buying and hoard- ing everything from PPE to cleaners/detergents to household items just to make sure we are not caught before any shortage emerges. Experts from the Food and Drug Ad- ministration (FDA), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), World Health Organization (WHO), Occu- pational Safety and Health Adminis- tration (OSHA) and the Department of Homeland Security, among others, have access and permission to release supplies in the national stockpile. The staff with direct patient contact were most afraid of not knowing whether they would contract the virus and how it would impact their lives. Those of us who support the frontline staff wanted to ensure we were doing everything we could to stop the spread of the virus to our colleagues, patients and families.


M Questions abound


Some of the questions raised in SPD involved PPE: Do we need to wear N95 masks? The answer was no. Save them for the staff making direct patient contact. How often do we need to change attire? Same as always. Do I need to be notifi ed if equipment returned is from a COVID-19 patient? No, we need to follow uni- versal precautions. Do we need to use different cleaning agents and detergents? The manager should validate the cleaners/ detergents in use kill viruses like the fl u, chickenpox, Hepatitis B and C and HIV.


48 May 2020 • HEALTHCARE PURCHASING NEWS • hpnonline.com 48 May 2021 • HEALTHCARE PURCHASING NEWS • hpnonline.com


How is your SPD “quaranteam” faring amidst COVID-19?


This downtime due to the reduced number of procedures pro- vided many opportunities to update the department policies, etc. This was a great time to ensure your Instructions for Use (IFU) for products are up to date. Are you following the IFUs? Do you have the correct tools to clean, such as brushes, and appropriate packaging for the items? This was a great opportunity to take the time to clean the department, look for outdated supplies, update the PAR lists and acquire appropriate items to ensure the IFUs are being followed. Verify the department has a copy of each of the IAHCSMM, AAMI ST79 and TIR 68 manuals and that your policies and procedures follow the guidelines. This is also an important time for staff to engage in performing these types of assignments for which they do not normally get involved. This includes training and education on how the epidemic was felt, what changes occurred, what steps should have been taken earlier, how the information was acquired? All represent an op- portunity to fi ll time as procedural cases are down and support preparedness for the next disaster that occurs. There are positive ramifi cations in all of this. It has brought together all departments within orga- nizations to have conversations about who does what – in detail – understanding how any changes in use of approved cleaning products, protocols, use of non-FDA- approved/cleared products, such as masks, proper use and reuse of PPE, and acquiring PPE masks from many vendors/lay people who are making masks that may not be FDA- approved/cleared. Do we accept


this? And what functions are allowed to use these products – SPD or frontline staff? These decisions are made collab- oratively. The importance of every role in the organization has now been highlighted. The


team effort and the support from each department should improve future communications as long as we


all continue to understand the different perspectives and needs by function and respect them. HPN


Jean Sargent, CMRP, FAHRMM, FCS, has nearly 30 years in lead- ership positions that span central service/materials and supply chain management in hospitals and healthcare systems, GPOs, service companies and consulting fi rms. Since 1998 Sargent also has been providing CS/SPD and Supply Chain education. She currently serves as Principal, Sargent Healthcare Strategies, is a member of Healthcare Purchasing News’ Editorial Advisory Board and can be reached at jean@sargenthealthcarestrategies.com.


One positive: Respect ne of the benefi ts that surfaced during the pandemic is that SD was recognied by senior leadership for the importance of the work the department produced. This is a recognition that we want to keep in place. s we emerge from the pan demic, its important that we work to retain that vision of your importance. How will you ensure leadership understands the needs of the department to perform according to standards set by regulatory and standardssetting bodies, such as I, , D and others? How do you engage physicians who do not understand the effort and time necessary to clean and disinfect, test, assemble, sterilie and have ready instruments for each tray? ecause orthopedic surgeons have many implant trays, for example, this may be a good time to get leadership and the physicians to understand the process of having multiple vendor trays per surgery and how that affects the SDs function and staffi ng. The relationship between Infection reven


tion I and SD became more important, too. When considering how to address the  shortages, I was the expert and helped direct the right decision at that point in time because it consistently changed, based on their knowledge and that of their colleagues around the country. How was your relationship with I prior


“How is your SPD “quaranteam” faring amidst COVID-19?” May 2020 Healthcare Purchasing News, p.48.


(https://hpnonline.com/21134527)


to the pandemic? Have you taken the oppor tunity to understand each others role to promote supporting each other? Have you created a bond that will enable SD to be supported in the future by I? This relation ship is not always what it should be. I hope that this pandemic has offered the time to build this relationship and ongoing support for the needs of the department and any


issues that arise. ditors ote See Infection revention, SD nited we withstand, pril  Healthcare Purchasing News, pp.. httpshpnonline.com How do you make these changes sustainable? How has the past year prepared SD to respond to that next crisis? HPN


Jean Sargent, CMRP, FAHRMM, FCS, has nearly 30 years in leader- ship positions that span central service/materials and supply chain management in hospitals and healthcare systems, GPOs, service companies and consulting fi rms. Since 1998, Sargent also has been providing CS/SPD and Supply Chain education. She currently serves as Principal, Sargent Healthcare Strategies, is a member of Healthcare Purchasing News’ Editorial Advisory Board and can be reached at jean@sargenthealthcarestrategies.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