CS CONNECTION
Pandemic punctuates off-site, on-site
by Kara Nadeau Photo credit: hkama |
stock.adobe.com W
hat is the best approach - repro- cessing surgical instruments on- site in each hospital or surgery center, in a centralized location within a health system that serves all of its surgery sites, or in an off-site facility away from the point of care? Over the years, Healthcare Purchasing
News has explored the pros and cons of each approach, the last time being June 2020 as hospitals and surgery centers struggled with COVID-19-related elective surgery delays and cancellations. At that time, HPN asked the question: Will the pandemic change where and how instru- ments are processed? Based on insights from Central Service/ Sterile Processing & Distribution (CS/ SPD) department professionals, product and service providers, and others in the industry, it seems COVID-19 has driven some changes in reprocessing practices, but there are other factors at hand that have influenced where reprocessing takes place even more.
COVID-driven changes Dr. Hudson Garrett Jr., Adjunct Assistant professor of Medicine, Division of Infectious Dis- eases, University of Louis- ville School of Medicine, knows of several facilities that have been forced to move reprocessing activi- ties into different areas to remain compliant with
Hudson Garrett
Centers for Disease Control and Preven- tion (CDC) guidelines for social distancing. “This is a common occurrence and can create delays in endoscope availability,” he stated. “Most other healthcare facilities that I am familiar with are not making any major changes related to reprocessing in the midst of the pandemic.” While she has not seen specific shifts to off-site reprocessing due to COVID-19, Sharon Greene-Golden, BA, CRCST, CER, SME, FCS, oneSOURCE consultant and
Manager, Adventist Health Care Shady Grove Medical Center, says some hospitals have altered course, driven by the pandemic.
“Hospitals may have made some changes in their processes due to hav- ing to close one institution and still have instruments available, but the process would only change in the pick-up and delivery of said instru- ments,” noted Greene-Golden.
Sharon Greene- Golden
“We were fortunate to continue working
as a normal sterile processing department due to the need of our services throughout the hospital,” she added. “We still had the Cath lab, Labor & Delivery, Cancer Center and the Emergency Department using instruments that needed to be processed daily. Each hospital in our healthcare system was able to maintain complete processing control during this pandemic.”
What drives introspection? As COVID-19 has impacted the volume of surgical procedures, with hospitals inter- mittently delaying elective surgeries when faced with surges in SARS-CoV-2 virus patients, many CS/SPD teams have taken the opportunity to evaluate their opera- tions.
“With COVID slowing surgical pro- grams across the country, a lot of facili- ties utilized this slow down to make improvements to the existing SPD or con- solidate multiple SPDs on one campus,” said Steven Sutton, Global Head of Planning & Design, Belimed. “Al though the exploration of the off-site reprocessing model is cer- tainly trending still, I don’t
Steven Sutton
believe the pandemic has significantly impacted that trend.” Kathy Shepherd, Senior Inside Sales Representative, Scanlan, says a number of her company’s partners have taken the
20 June 2021 • HEALTHCARE PURCHASING NEWS •
hpnonline.com reprocessing decisions
opportunity to review their strategies and processes this year.
“CS/SPD staff faced a number of chal- lenges from changing needs of patients, providers and staff morale, which all had an impact on each teams’ ability to deliver excel- lent results on time and in full every time,” she com- mented. “The most consis- tent challenge we helped
Kathy Shepherd
our partners with this year was addressing communication needs between the greater facility, the CS/SPD teams and internal com- munication. A number of our partners found they were able to improve communication by addressing processes and implementing communication solutions.” When COVID-19 hit the U.S. in early 2020, some hospitals chose to put on hold any plans for reprocessing changes, but in 2021 there appears to be a renewed desire for advancement, explains John Kimsey, Vice President of Operations, STERIS Instrument Processing Solutions. “COVID’s impact in 2020 caused hospitals to pause on any strategic decision making concerning off-site reprocessing. Those inter- ested in moving towards off-site reprocessing main- tained their interest but
John Kimsey
were forced to fully shift focus to the pandemic. As hospitals are returning to the new normal operations, the interest in off-site reprocessing and/or centralized reprocessing is returning. Overall, STERIS hasn’t seen the pandemic changing the way instruments are processed but rather only delayed hospitals’ planned changes.” One health system that has taken a pro-
active approach to reprocessing changes is Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. According to Kimberly Jones, BA, CRCST, Director of Central Sterile Supply, Main Campus, they opened an off-site processing facility in February 2021 to help
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