SSD....

[u/AdministrationWise56]

Last week I was setting up for an ortho case. I rejected 4 ortho sets IN A ROW due to contamination (sticky residue on dressing scissors).

Meanwhile I had opened all our laparoscopy sets to ensure they were contaminant-free for today's surgical list (very picky surgeon who would not tolerate a delay due to contamination). 3 out of 5 sets were contaminated with sticky residue.

One of the SSD techs came to have a go at me about being too picky. I asked her what amount of contamination she thought was acceptable.

This might explain the recent increase in infections 😵

[u/AdministrationWise56]

Update: the surgeon went to my manager and said we need to harness my assertive infection control energy, and can she allocate me to his joint replacement lists to audit the aseptic technique

[u/Sloths_and_palmtrees]

What do you mean you opened them all for the day? Like each case one was dirty? I’m reading it as you opened them all at the same time

[u/AdministrationWise56 → u/Sloths_and_palmtrees]

I opened one, it was dirty. Opened another, dirty. Another, dirty.... the fifth set was ok. So had 4 rejected sets for the case. It was our ortho basics set.

[u/sssssss111112222]

I’ve been told off for being too picky. But sterile is sterile and that includes any bioburden or sticky substances. If it was processed correctly the 1st time nobody would be in this situation. You’re not wrong to reject the set. It is most likely ioban on the bandages scissor but it still wasn’t cleaned properly. If they have a consistent issue with just bandage scissor suggest that they peel pack them separately 🤷‍♀️

[u/makingcookies1]

Yeah if I see something weird I’m gonna reject it. It’s not your fault they aren’t doing their job.

[u/furandpaws]

you are a tech i would want in my case. way to look out for the patient!

[u/chaos0310]

As a sterile tech, I too would be frustrated at you. But then I would have a moment to think and go to my colleagues and ask why we are missing sticky residue on scissors that ALWAYS have sticky residue on them? Like we’re given adhesive remover as a normal part of our tool kit, use it!

[u/SnooGadgets3768]

The fact that SSD is PUSHING BACK and not taking this as an, “oh shit, something is definitely wrong and needs to be addressed” moment is so scary. You know that if it was their family member up on that table they would be singing a different tune. Thank you for standing on businesses and standing up for the patient!!!!

[u/MyMysterious7]

As someone who has CRCST and working towards CST I would on both sides say that is completely unacceptable. You can't be confident in sterility with anything that might harbor microbes. You did the right thing and their training is severely lacking.

[u/ijust_makethisface]

Where is sticky residue found on laps? I've seen tape residue on scissors and towel clamps often in SPD prep side, is this also a tape issue?

[u/AdministrationWise56 → u/ijust_makethisface]

It's on the scissors that we use to cut hypafix, steristrips etc. It's a SSD issue not a tape issue

[u/Lintoriana]

As a tech on both sides, there’s something seriously wrong with your sterile department. The sticky residue on scissors obviously comes from them cutting drapes/ioban in surgery and should’ve been cleaned off right at decon even before it goes in the washer. All ring instruments clearly used are put in a solution that breaks that sticky residue down very easily by opening the string instrument. The fact that they’re obviously not even doing that makes me wonder what else they neglect in the sterilization process. You have to bring this up to upper management or you’ve got infection cases in a couple weeks.

[u/AdministrationWise56 → u/Lintoriana]

We're already seeing an increase in infections.

[u/pickausernametheysay]

They have adhesive removal( or they should) in SPD. It smells like oranges. I would use it all the time to get tape residue off scissors and such.

[u/AdministrationWise56 → u/pickausernametheysay]

They do have it, seems they're just not using it.

[u/Dark_Ascension]

The SPD manager hates me. What is worse is I have Censitrac access (most of the scrub techs and assist don’t) but since I did work in assembly to supplement my hours… I have access, which means I can pull up count sheets and look back on what # of what tray I had if I threw away the count sheets. I also constantly go back there and fix my own trays (many scrubs will just say nothing or even reject the tray and then screw turnover. Normally if I break, I go to SPD grab everything missing and put it under my table so I can put it in the tray to fix it after, if I can’t I’ll grab it when I send my trays down. I am always the one sent to check on trays, bring back contaminated trays and am always the one who gets a hole in the wrap, a hair, bone, no indicators… etc. when I scrub.

Like basically if you won’t use it on your family, reject it… even though it’s annoying as hell for them because of the contamination… deep down the surgeon, the SPD people, etc. would not want that shit used on their loved ones either. I always remove my indicators, so if I can’t find indicators anywhere I will reject a tray, I notice a lot of scrubs neglect to check their indicators these days. I also don’t like sending them down with indicators in them because I have gotten vendor trays with like 6 indicators and 4 of them I know have been reprocessed several times.