AST Guideline - Environmental Practices in the Operating Room

disposable costs of the tape; cost of rewrapping and sterilizing

instrument sets that have torn wraps; labor costs for wrapping and

rewrapping instrument sets; cost of blue wraps vs. cost of

disinfecting rigid containers and replacing the filters.

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(3) When a HDO switches to rigid containers in-services should be

held for the central sterile processing and OR departments on how

to utilize the containers; proper disinfecting; filter replacement

procedures; inspection of the external latch, filters, valves and

tamper-evident locks in the OR; inspection of the integrity of the

filter or valve and gasket.

These items should be completed

based upon manufacturer’ IFU’s.

It is also recommended that the department’s staff complete

annual training on rigid containers as well as new hires and the

training is documented by the HDO.

Guideline V

Surgery departments should establish a donation program for unopened, unused

items as well as certain types of opened, unused items.

There are many types of unused supplies generated in the surgery department that

can be donated rather than be placed in the waste stream.

Accredited surgical technology programs are often on a “tight” budget in

which the amount of supplies that can be purchased for students to use is

limited. Local surgery departments can greatly assist by creating a donation

tub in which extra supplies are placed for the Program Director to pick up

on a weekly basis. For example, a surgical procedure is cancelled, but all

the supplies were already opened; the surgery department could place the

opened, but unused gowns, drapes, suction tubing, electrocautery, irrigation

basins (if disposable), suture, back table sharps container, etc. into the

donation tub.

Veterinarian clinics often accept donations, in particular suture. The outer

packet has, obviously, been opened to “flip” the suture onto the back table,

but as long as the inner packet is not compromised, the clinic will accept

the suture.

Another important source to provide donations is medical missions and

developing countries. The example of the suture provided above illustrates

an avenue for providing much needed supplies to medical mission

organizations as well as to HDOs in developing countries.