Becker's Clinical Quality & Infection Control

44 Executive Briefing "It's a total mindset change for them. That's where the chal- lenge lies," Ms. Swanson says. "It goes against what they believed to be sterile technique… It's a change in technology, so [we had to] get them up to speed on [how those changes] allow us to have better patient safety." To assuage front-line workers' anxiety about the moisture re- tained in the One Tray system, North Memorial ran its own tests by culturing a sterilized tray that had moisture and "found no living organisms," Mr. Jigmey says. This finding complemented independent validation testing, which validated the system and allowed it to achieve 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. To ease the implementation and education process, One Tray's customer relations and education team spent five days at North Memorial training the OR and sterile processing staff, Mr. Jigmey says. In fact, for the first three days of One Tray use, Mr. Jigmey and members of One Tray's CRE team stayed in the OR to communicate directly with OR staffers and quell fears of water left in the tray. Besides the front-line workers in the OR, the sterile processing department staff "loved" the system "because it saved us a lot of time and headaches [now that] we don't have to worry about wrapping," Mr. Jigmey says. From January to August of this year, North Memorial's sterile processing department record- ed 39 punctured tray wrappers. With One Tray, punctures are impossible since the trays replace wraps. Mr. Jigmey also notes One Tray is increasingly favored among surgeons at the hospital. "They know they're getting a better product for their patient" because it's eliminating the use of immediate use steam sterilization, he says. Results and the Future North Memorial adopted One Tray to improve efficiencies in the face of increased OR demand and improve patient safety. Although the hospital is still in the midst of the implementation process, it has already seen positive results on both fronts. For instance, the entire sterilization process has sped up sig- nificantly. According to Mr. Jigmey, the new system allows the hospital to turn over trays three times faster than before. Not only that, but One Tray has saved North Memorial Medical Center thousands of dollars per month on wraps alone, not to mention savings achieved by reducing the number of loaner trays required. For a specific hip procedure, for example, "we no longer need a loaner to come in [because] we're able to process them much faster," Mr. Jigmey says. The sterile processing department has also gained roughly three hours of saved labor per day through the use of One Tray. Most importantly, patients are safer because of the decreased use of IUSS at North Memorial Medical Center. Mr. Jigmey says IUSS has already decreased 30 percent, and by the time the One Tray system is fully implemented, "it will be zero," he says. Down the line, Mr. Jigmey envisions the OR being able to schedule more cases per day with the saved efficiencies. "We're not there yet," he says, but once One Tray is fully imple- mented and optimized, "we'll be able to schedule more [cases] or at least turn around the instruments much quicker and [also] cut down on the purchase of [additional] instruments." n ONE TRAY® helps Health Care Facilities across the country provide One Standard of Care for all patients. ONE TRAY® is an FDA Cleared, Rigid Container using Terminal Sterilization in a 4 min. pre-vac cycle, no dry/cool time required. Process high turn surgical assets & loaner/consignments set more efficiently with The ONE TRAY® System! "With ONE TRAY®, Middlesex hospital is now able to rapidly turn devices through effective planning and coordination of the surgical schedule. We do more with less (run more cycles per day) and do so in a safe and effective manner…" -David Jagrosse "Along with the saved time to my schedule I've also noticed a change in the relations between SPD and the OR. Before I would constantly hear the OR complaining that SPD is taking too long to turn trays. Now all of my trays/sets are in the room before I am…. "-Robert C. Marchand, MD "[Surgeons] know they're getting a better product for their patient." — Uggen Jigmey One Tray has saved North Memorial Medical Center thousands of dollars per month on wraps alone.

• Cover