Business Advisor: Unlock Hidden Savings in Central Sterile

Business Advisor

By: Alicia Apostoles

Published: 1/14/2020

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3 ways your techs can lower your instrument reprocessing costs


Your certified sterile processing techs are the gatekeepers for the instruments that end up in your ORs. They compile trays and doublecheck sets to make sure instruments arrive on time and ready for use. There's perhaps no one in your facility who's more dialed into which tools are needed — and which aren't — for every case your surgeons perform. Tapping into their in-the-trenches insights will help you find cost-saving opportunities and improve your facility's bottom line.

Case in point: Certified sterile processing techs at my orthopedic surgery center worked with an instrument vendor to consolidate total knee instruments from 6 trays to 2 trays, which eliminated around 100 instruments and saved our facility $320 per case in reprocessing costs. Their efforts to consolidate instrument sets also:

  • decreased sterilization cycle times by 30 minutes;
  • prevented them from having to run 2 sterilizers (6 trays couldn't fit in a single load) to reprocess the instruments used during a single case;
  • decreased the time it took them to apply blue wrap to sterilized instruments from 45 minutes to 15 minutes; and
  • saved us $8.83 in the per-case costs of purchasing blue wrap, tray liners and chemical integrators.

Here's how to educate and empower your sterile processing techs to actively look for similar ways to reduce the amount of instrumentation that's used and subsequently reprocessed.

1Rightsize trays. When techs receive case carts in sterile processing, ask them to analyze the items surgeons did — and didn't — use to see if any "peel-packing" opportunities present themselves. It might be possible to create smaller custom peal-packed trays to avoid opening up a full instrument set from which only half the items are used.

This practice can also help your team better manage heavy workflow days. For example, on days when we were doing back-to-back shoulder cases, we'd run through a lot of instruments. Instead of buying additional instruments, several techs worked with our primary vendor, analyzed the flow and order of the cases, and came up with a solution: 2 additional consolidated shoulder trays (or mini-trays) made up of only high-use instruments that we could use to maintain the case flow without purchasing additional full trays. So, as our techs are processing a complete set of instruments from one case, they put a mini-tray into rotation for the next case to avoid downtime. Because of the techs' problem-solving, we're able to schedule back-to-back cases and keep the surgical schedule on track without having to purchase thousands of dollars in additional instruments.

MORE WITH LESS OrthoNY Surgical Suites reduced the number of instrument trays needed for total knees, and saved both time and money in the process.   |  OrthoNY Surgical Suites

2Manage loaners. Have techs create and manage a sign-in policy for vendors bringing in loaner instrument sets. Require that all trays and instruments be on-site and signed in at the sterile processing department at least 48 hours before the start of the case in which the tools will be used. This gives techs time to preview the instrumentation to make sure all needed items are present and reprocessed before the scheduled case. Techs are also able to spot waste-reduction opportunities by pulling unneeded instruments that are included in sets. Their efforts hold instrument vendors accountable for the accuracy of the sets they bring into your facility and can consolidate instruments.

3Involve your techs. Include techs in surgical staff training and in-services when you're adding a new procedure. Set up the supplies and instruments in the OR, so sterile processing techs see all the instruments that will be used and how the table is set up. That exercise gives techs a much better understanding of how instruments are used in the OR and the inventory they can expect to arrive for reprocessing when the case concludes. It's also a great opportunity for them to let you know if they'll realistically be able to turn around the sets used during the case in a reasonable amount of time.

Add-on benefits

Consolidating instrument sets decreases overall reprocessing cycle times, which impacts your bottom line not only from an instrument and consumable perspective, but also with respect to total case volumes. The ability to reprocess instruments in a more efficient manner can translate into adding revenue-producing procedures and the opportunity to provide more patients with high-quality care. OSM

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