Transcript Surgical Reprocessing (SRP) – Reduction of Instrument Loss Bipolar Tissue Forceps

Surgical Reprocessing (SRP)
Reduction of Instrument Loss –
Bipolar Tissue Forceps
OR/SRP Liaison Committee
Jose Gonzales, SRP
John Rodriguez, SRP
Surgical Reprocessing Staff
Patricia Meuschel, Mgr, OR Support
Opportunity Statement and Desired Outcome
A Bipolar Tissue Forceps is an electrocautery instrument
that is used frequently in surgery. About 22% of all
different surgical procedures request this instrument.
Some loss is acceptable because of the frequency of use
and, therefore, the possibility of breakage. Due to a
significant number of instruments that are missing every
month, opportunity exists to develop a process for their
return to SRP.
Goal: Reduce the number of Bipolar Tissue Forceps that
are lost after the procedure is completed.
Identification of Most Likely Causes
• A reusable Bipolar Tissue Forceps is attached to a
disposable cord. The cord is secured to the surgical
drape, which is disposed of at the completion of the
procedure. At times, both items have been disposable of,
including the BPT.
• The Bipolar Tissue Forceps was a single wrapped item,
not bar-coded, and therefore, was not being tracked with
the department’s computerized tracking system.
• Some of the OR staff believed the Bipolar Tissue Forceps
was a disposable one-time use item.
Solutions Implemented
• OR/SRP Liaison Committee educated the OR staff that the
Bipolar Tissue Forceps are not disposable.
• Developed signs and posted them on each case cart,
stating the number of BTF on that case & that OR
personnel will be held accountable for their return to SRP
• Each Bipolar Tissue Forceps is placed in a container that
is numbered & bar coded.
• SRP inventories each container and, if instrument is
missing, began notifying the OR room staff for immediate
resolution.
Results
Biploar Replacement
Decreasing Bipolar Tissue Forceps Lost
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
40
1
Jul-03
1
2
0
1
0
0
Aug-03 Sep-03 Oct-03 Nov-03 Dec-03 Jan-04 Feb-04
There has been a significant decrease in the number of bipolar
tissue forceps lost since implementation of bar-coding.
Next Steps
• Bar-code other single instruments to enable
tracking through the computerized instrument
tracking system
• Continue to monitor to ensure that all bar-coded
containers are returned containing a bipolar
tissue forceps