Survey Answers

Our last survey question, What problems are you experiencing with Instrument Organizing Sets? yielded varied answers. The most repeated replies were as follows:

• Instruments coming down from OR missing, tracking them down
• Constant changes requested by OR, poorly written, not letting us know what could be eliminated, etc., bad communication Too many instruments in the set to begin with, unnecessary instruments in the set making extra work and causing damage to the instruments from over processing (40/60 rule — 40% of the instruments are returned used with 60% of the instruments unused.) Instrument sets too large/heavy
• No major problems at the moment

In addition, some of the other responses included the following:

• Wrong basket in the wrong pans Surgeons or nurses who want "their" instruments in formats incompatible with routine tray formats Difficulty in thorough cleaning Sales reps that have virtually no understanding of sterilization principles Availability of instruments Plastic organizer pans that crack and break Plastic containers often result in wet packs due to major differences in heat-up and cool-down times of metal contents and plastic container Having the right inserts to put into trays to organize and protect instrumentation Count sheets are incorrect Odd shaped instruments placed on stringers
• Having the right inserts to put into trays to organize and protect instrumentation

Our thanks to all those who responded.  

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