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Improving the Management of Stocks of Replacement Instruments in Hospital Sterilization

Introduction :

In hospital sterilization departments, the management of replacement instrument stocks represents a crucial challenge. A well-organized replacement stock ensures that surgical compositions reach the operating rooms complete and functional, thus optimizing the time and quality of care. However, many difficulties arise: lack of harmonization of references, budget management, limited storage space or even urgent search for instruments.

In this newsletter, we explore the most common issues and share proven practices to make inventory management smoother and more efficient.

1. Ensure the availability of replacement instruments

  • Harmonization and tightening of references: Standardizing references not only simplifies storage but also facilitates inter-specialty replacement. By reducing the number of models for similar interventions, the risk of stock shortages is reduced while optimizing resources.

  • Digitalized tracking and rotating inventories: Use digital management tools to visualize critical stock thresholds in real time and receive alerts when replenishments are necessary. Planning rotating inventories also facilitates the rapid detection of shortages, thus limiting last-minute emergencies.

  • Stock rotation and regular maintenance: To avoid the accumulation and premature aging of instruments, it is essential to set up a stock rotation adapted to the needs of the different specialties. This rotation must be accompanied by regular maintenance, carried out by a competent repairer, in order to guarantee the proper functioning and durability of the instruments. This approach thus ensures continuous availability of the instruments while optimizing space and extending the life of the equipment.

2. Budget management and responsible purchasing

  • Purchasing policy based on actual consumption: Purchases of replacement instruments should be decided based on historical usage and activity forecasts. This approach helps reduce costs while ensuring the availability of the most used instruments.

  • Coordination of purchases between sterilization and the operating room: By involving the sterilization teams and the operating rooms in purchasing decisions, we obtain a better vision of needs, thus minimizing unnecessary purchases while reinforcing coherence between departments.

  • Budget monitoring and optimized inventory: A periodic stock audit makes it possible to control costs based on real needs and to set up a budget adjusted according to consumption and changes in specialties.

3. Share stocks between specialties and facilitate access to Sterilization

  • Pooling of stocks: By centralizing and sharing replacement instruments between specialties, redundancies are limited and rapid access to devices is facilitated when needed, while optimizing the use of available resources.

  • Centralized and easily accessible stock: Placing replacement instruments in a centralized sterilization stock, close to the recomposition area, allows sterilization teams to quickly find the necessary instruments. Good accessibility of instruments is crucial to avoid delays due to time-consuming searches.

  • Ergonomic storage: Instruments should be grouped according to their frequency of use and specialties to facilitate access and avoid dispersion. Optimal storage frees up space and reduces handling time for sterilization agents.

Conclusion :

Despite the efforts of sterilization teams to anticipate the need for replacement instruments, it still happens too often that surgical sets arrive in the operating room with non-functional devices.

This situation creates justified frustration among surgical teams, who turn to sterilization to understand the causes of these inadequacies.

By working towards better organization of stocks, harmonizing references and pooling resources, it is possible to prevent these situations and improve the overall satisfaction of care teams and the safety of interventions.

 

 

Jean-Paul Averty

President and Founder of InWay SAS

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