Becker's Clinical Quality & Infection Control

36 Executive Briefing: Improving the Sterile Processing Department Effect on staff Acquiring the One Tray system and using it effectively in a hos- pital takes change, and change isn't always easy. At Cincinnati Children's, making the switch successfully required educating staff members in the sterile processing department as well as in the operating room. According to Mr. Tewksbury, the OR staff had been trained to expect a sterile tray to show up in the OR dry. But with the One Tray system, water or moisture can be found in sterile trays due to its unique technology and success at sterilizing instru- ments with zero dry time. The staff needed to be retrained for the new normal with One Tray. "It took education and reinforcement for what to expect when using One Tray," he says. With the help of the One Tray team, the education process started with presentations to large groups of OR staff mem- bers about what to expect with One Tray use. Then, since Cincinnati Children's uses the One Tray system most exten- sively with orthopedic cases, OR staff who work on orthope- dic cases went through more extensive training in smaller groups that went into greater detail about the system, what to expect and how to use the tray. Some staff nurses, es- pecially scrub nurses and technicians, received one-on-one training. Mr. Tewksbury also recommends having someone from the sterile processing department in the OR for the first few cases to reinforce that what the OR staff is seeing — moisture in a sterile tray — is, in fact, normal. Now that everyone knows what to expect, the staff has been very happy with the new process, according to Mr. Tewksbury. "I [recently] had a scrub nurse stop me and tell me how much she loved the One Tray" and that she trusts the system, he says. "Education was key in that, and constant reinforcement and involvement." Surgeons at Cincinnati Children's are satisfied with the new system after gaining trust in it, Mr. Tewksbury says. "They have a higher degree of comfort now that the issue of package integrity has gone to the wayside," he says, and they like the fact that they are able to start cases on time with no defects in the integrity of the packaging of the trays. Results Mr. Tewksbury calls the One Tray system a "worthwhile invest- ment," and that is true in more ways than one. Not only will using One Tray result in fast, safe instrument turnover in the sterile processing department, it will also save hospitals money. Hospitals with service lines that do a lot of re- petitive cases each day may not need to have a lot of backup instrumentation to keep pace with the day's cases, thus sav- ing money. Additionally, hospitals no longer need to purchase as much sterilization wrap or tape, since the tray has a rigid design, which furthers the cost savings for hospitals. Further, the quick sterilization time can limit sterile processing- related delays in the OR, which, according to industry aver- ages, can cost anywhere from $75 to $200 each minute. Mr. Tewksbury says he would "absolutely" encourage other hospital sterile processing departments to try the One Tray system in their sterile processing departments and ORs as ONE TRAY has exceeded all expectations. n Not only will using One Tray result in fast, safe instrument turnover in the sterile processing department, it will also save hospitals money. Innovative Sterilization Technologies, the exclusive provider of the ONE TRAY® system is changing sterilization ONE TRAY® at a time. ONE TRAY® is an FDA Cleared, Rigid Container with Terminal Sterilization in a 4 min. pre-vac cycle, no dry/cool time required. "We're cutting out a significant amount of sterilization time — the dry time." — Matt Tewksbury, director of sterile processing and distribution, Cincinnati Children's Hospital

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