ScanCARE Blog

The advances in surgical procedures and surgical instrumentation, over the past 10-20 years has been astounding. Once upon a time, just about every surgical procedure was open surgery and involved simple pivot based stainless steel instruments. These days, surgical instruments are highly complex hybrid material devices.

This has led to a quiet revolution in sterilizing departments around the world. Instruments were once simple and tray assembly straightforward.

In my blog post titled "What you need to know about Surgical Instrument Direct Part Marking (DPM)" I wrote about the laser etching process. The post discusses what  equipment is required for etching your instruments and the logistic aspects of  the process as well as some of its positives and shortcomings. Today I will revisit some of those concepts but with a wider context as to why you need to etch your instruments.

Generally CSSD managers understand the benefits of laser etching, so today we will see why it’s not already done for you when you buy an instrument.

The new version of AS/NZS 4187 released on the 15^th December last year brought some very significant changes to the previous standard. One of the most significant ones being the standards reference to Product Families.

Staff privileges and system security are two common features of surgical instrument tracking systems that we are often asked about.

Hourly rates or process costing information, for example, is usually considered confidential and for this reason CSSD and theatre managers need to be able to regulate who can and who cannot access this level of detail.

Network IT adminstrators too, have an interest in this topic as they need to ascertain the level of security provided by the tracking application.

My experience is that the needs of clinical managers and those of network IT administrators don’t always align. Individual stakeholder requirements warrant careful consideration to achieve successful and sustainable outcomes for all concerned.

This post discusses how to navigate the area of staff privileges and security to meet and satisfy all stakeholders' needs. 

Short on time? Why not download our handy 1 page User Roles Chart?

With the deadline for implementation of AS4187 2014 coming up fast, I thought that it may be worthwhile to take another look at product families.

There seems to be a lot of interest in AS4187 and product families and my blog of August 2015 is by far our most read page on our website. The helpful categorisation guide gets downloaded several times each week.

The price of a surgical instrument tracking system is an important consideration if you are considering moving to an automated solution. In order to put together a business case, you will, besides the cost, also need to know the difference between the various offerings and what you can expect to be included in each system.

Complying with Australian standards AS4187 or AS4815 can be a difficult task for any health care facility, but for office based health care facilities, physical space limitations can make it even more difficult. Finding space to wash, wrap and sterilize surgical instruments can be tricky for the smaller facilities and bench space is typically limited so finding space to put things can be a challenge.

The latest version of AS/NZS 4187 released on the 15^th December 2014  brought some very significant changes to the previous standard. One of the most significant changes is the standards reference to Product Families.

In my blog "Here's how to make sense of the AS4187 categorisation of instrument product families", I provided an overview of ISO/TS 17665-3:2013 - Sterilization of health care products - Moist heat - Part 3: Guidance on the designation of a medical device to a product family and processing category for steam sterilization.

In today's post I will get into the specifics of how to apply the standard to a dental assessment tray.

Infection control and laser etching medical instruments.

In my blog What you need to know about Surgical Instrument Direct Part Marking (DPM), I wrote about the benefits of surgical instrument marking.  I also touched on some lesser known but important aspects that need to be considered.

The ability to quickly retrieve and return of instruments is one of the important benefits that a surgical insrument tracking solution can provide.

If you are considering an instrument tracking solution, then the tips in this blog will hopefully make your life easier down the track.