You have more than likely realised there is increased pressure on hospital management to improve patient care, implement efficient and lean processes, bring down expenses and deliver higher quality, all while minimising harm to the environment and providing outstanding service.
The truth is, many healthcare providers still use a few medium-sized surgical packs and even more single-item sterile medical devices, but have not yet converted to larger surgical packs. However, for a majority of these providers, the proportion of surgeries requiring the use of custom procedure trays is increasing in all areas. Additionally, in public hospitals and private clinics across Europe, the development of surgical packs is expanding—covering most surgical procedures, and replacing the use of reusable or sterile medical devices sold as single items.
Here are five common reasons for the continued development of custom procedure packs:
- We have seen where healthcare professionals are performing more surgeries daily. This has resulted in an increase in treatment related to those procedures.
- Depending on where healthcare facilities operate, labour costs continue to increase yearly while the government-allocated budget for healthcare does not necessarily grow proportionately.
- Similarly, in some contexts, it has become more difficult to find and hire additional nurses and surgeons who are both skilled and available. In such cases, there is a need for facilities to address the challenge head-on and look for immediate solutions to optimise the time staff can spend on patient care.
- Infection prevention is increasingly a priority. Annually, approximately 4 million patients in Europe acquire healthcare-associated (nosocomial) infections. This has resulted in an estimated 37,000 deaths every year.1
- Waste reduction continues to be a challenge and an important aspect of caring for the environment. However, due to higher associated costs, health facilities are often forced to allocate a growing percentage of their budget to keep up.
The increased use of custom sterile procedure trays (SPTs) would represent a major step in the right direction for healthcare facilities and their workforces.
That is because:
- SPTs are a one-stop, time-saving option for procedures that require multiple sterile items.
- SPTs are specialised for individual surgeries, providing a readily available, appropriately equipped and reliable pack. Including the right medical devices in your custom packs and creating the right custom packs for most of your procedures will represent significant gains in supply chain processes, storage and activities in operating theatres.
- SPTs can eliminate some of the hassle in the business of healthcare. For example, you will be able to reallocate some resources and efforts from logistics-related activities to patient care while reducing costs.
- SPTs can help reduce potential infections, since there will be less packaging to open, a better aseptic presentation and specific components designed to prevent cross-contamination.
- Based on our experience with customers, SPTs reduce packaging and, by extension, waste by up to 95%, as devices for the same surgery/procedure are packaged together, rather than being packaged and sold as single items.
Want to know more about SPTs? Click here!
Carlos Tapias
SPT Product Manager EU, Medline Europe
Carlos has over 8 years of experience in the international healthcare industry with a background in marketing and international logistics administration. He currently manages the sterile procedure tray division for all of Europe, coordinating different projects, optimising processes and developing innovative solutions and high-quality products to fulfil all customer needs. Learn more on LinkedIn.
Reference:
1. Edana. ‘Why use nonwovens in medical and healthcare’. Accessed 9 September 2020.
2020-12-04 09:10:00
