STERILE PROCESSING
Photo courtesy Jewish Health, HPN’s 2016 SPD of the Year
The changing landscape of sterile processing storage and containment
by Kara Nadeau S
urgical procedures continue to evolve, as do the instruments required to perform them. In some cases, instrument sets have grown bigger with the addition of items, requiring trays with greater capacity or multiple trays for a single proce- dure. Complex and delicate instrument sets present their own challenges with organization and maintaining integrity. Then there are the vast number of disposable supplies required to perform surgical cases. Faced with these challenges, sterile processing (SP) teams are reconfiguring spaces and processes and implementing new prod- ucts and solutions. Healthcare Purchasing News (HPN) asked SP professionals for their success stories in containment and storage, and suppliers of these solutions for their comments and latest innovations.
Sterile processing successes in containment and storage During my recent HPN Fireside Chat, “Sterile Processing Insights for Today’s Demanding Landscape,” I stressed the need for increased best practice sharing among SP professionals and teams. For this article, Sean Weir, Sterile Processing System Educator, UPMC, Pittsburgh, shared his story of managing both a wrapped tray to rigid pan conversion, and installation of new SP depart- ment storage racks at two hospitals. Dena Ramirez, MSOL, CHL, CRCST, CIS, Sterile Processing Manager for Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, and CEO of The Ramirez Institute of Sterile Processing,
30 October 2023 • HEALTHCARE PURCHASING NEWS •
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shared her story of transitioning from stacked wrapped trays to each tray having its own shelf in storage.
Container and rack conversion at UPMC With regards to the rigid tray conversion, Weir explained how wrapped trays tend to get “banged around” in the operating room (OR), leading to tears and holes. He offered this example: “I checked a wrapped tray to ensure there were no breaches, sent it up to the OR in our dedicated clean elevator, and received a call from the OR team that there was a hole in it. I inspected the tray and there was a big slice in the wrap that wasn’t there when I sent it up.”
Weir embarked on a rigid tray conversion for all trays that could
be containerized—80% of the hospital’s inventory. He explained why he chose to standardize on a single container manufacturer: “It removed the questionability of having 2-3 different filters, which locks to buy, all the consumables, etc.” The chosen containers were lighter in weight compared to com- petitor’s trays, which was an important selling point, said Weir: “Some manufacturers’ rigid pans weigh about a half pound or 1
lb. more than others. You may not think that makes a difference, but when you are weighing out your trays and they must be under 25 lbs. inside the rigid pan, that extra pound could make a difference.” Another hospital was remodeling its SP department, so Weir took the opportunity to maximize its storage space (and that of another hospital). They selected DSI racks, which Weir said are
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