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Surgical Asset Management

Black box CSSD

Are you aware of all cost traps in your hospital?

Hospital managers sitting at a table in a training

Let’s talk about some facts 

Did you know...

…how high the costs for a single missing or malfunctioning surgical instrument can be?

Delays are the most common type of disruption in the operating theatre and the main cause (55.2-57.9%) of delays is equipment failure, including missing or malfunctioning instruments. [1]

Instrument Condition in the UK

instrument-condition-in-uk.png ABHI Study: Only 18% of instruments were in an acceptable condition.[1a]

When a new tray has to be ordered during surgery, it takes approximately seven minutes until it arrives in the operating theatre. [2] One minute of operating theatre time costs up to $37, [3] which means that one missing or malfunctioning instrument can cost up to $259 only due to the delay it is causing – in addition there are the costs for the waiting surgeons and nurses.

Info graph of additional costs of missing or broken surgical instrument during OR

…that many instruments within a set are never used during surgery?

The instrument utilisation rate often is as low as 13% due to overloading of sets. [2] After surgery, all devices should be reprocessed, even if they were not used.

Info graph of the instrument utilization rate of 13 %

This causes significant unnecessary costs for health institutions, considering that the total reprocessing costs per instrument exceed $0.51. [2a] The reprocessing not only costs money and personnel resources, but also shortens the lifespan of the device. Another problem of overloaded sets is that the rate of broken, and thus unusable, instruments increases with the number per set. [3]

Info graph of reprocessing costs per instrument

…that pinholes in soft wraps threaten the hospital’s finances and patient’s health?

Surgical instruments and sets are often packed in soft wraps, which are prone to pinholes if they are not handled appropriately. When pinholes or tears are detected, the whole set is considered as non-sterile and requires reprocessing. In a study in 2022, 12% of sets were rejected due to holes/tears in the wrapping.[4] Damaged sterile packages can cause operating theatre downtimes and time pressure. Moreover, holes in wraps might appear inconspicuous and could be overlooked, leading to risks of surgical site infections (SSIs).

Info graph of pinholes in soft wrap means non-sterile and increase risk of SSI

…how instrument sterilisation correlates with surgical site infections?

Instruments that are sterilised insufficiently can lead to SSIs. 2-5% of all patients undergoing surgery develop this kind of infection [5] – for abdominal surgeries, the percentage is even five times as high. [6] A study showed that a sudden increase of the SSI rate in the orthopaedics and ophthalmology wards in an NHS hospital in Glasgow could be traced back to poor handling practices in sterilisation. [7] In 3% of all SSI cases, this complication leads to the death of a patient. [8]

Info graph of surgical site infections

On average, a patient suffering from an SSI has to stay in the hospital for 14 additional days, causing additional costs of £10,523. [9] SSIs not only damage the hospital’s budget but also its reputation.

Info graph of the costs of additional 10 recovering days after a surgical site infection

…how important well-trained staff are?

In some hospitals, maintaining optimal reprocessing cycles is challenging. One reason is the lack of training which can lead to mistakes concerning the handling of items. For example, not detecting pitting corrosion during care and maintenance leads to a systematic corrosion affecting not only the instrument sets but also the whole reprocessing cycle including the equipment.

Info graph of no well-trained staff means mistakes in instrument cycle, not following reprocessing guideline and bad instrument condition

Black box CSSD – a potential cost saver

Young CSSD employee with a digital tray organizing management tool on his tablet

Discover your saving opportunities 

Solutions for the CSSD

Value preservation & backup stock management

Ensuring the optimal functionality and availability of surgical equipment allows operations to go ahead as planned, avoiding delays, stress and costs. A professional high-quality repair management and a technical service that is reliable and always available when needed can help you to achieve long term functionality of your instrumentation and thus preserves the value of your surgical sets. Ensuring that functioning devices are always available requires good backup management. This enables surgeries to go ahead as planned while other instruments undergo repair or maintenance.

Info graph backup stock management system

Set optimisation


Surgical sets are often overloaded however they can be optimised and adapted for surgical procedures, bringing wide ranging benefits for the operating theatre and CSSD. [11] Our Set Consulting Team found that, on average, reductions of 22% for existing set structures is possible. [10] Considering that the reprocessing costs for one instrument amounts to approximately $0.51 [2a] we calculated that the reduction of a 90 piece set to 70 instruments (by 22%) can save up to $408,000 per year. [10]

Info graph of instrument set before and after set optimization

Containerisation

In many CSSDs, soft wraps are commonly used to pack sterilised surgical instruments but are very prone to pinholes or tears. Damaged packaging effects the sterility of the instruments and is a high risk for the patient’s health. By contrast, containerisation does not only enable sterile storage, but also easier handling as containers can be stacked and different lid or faceplate colours allow for sorting by disciplines. Containers help prevent contamination of sets and maintain sterility for at least 360 days. [13] One case study found that – compared to soft wrap packaging – on average US$ 190,000 can be saved per year by containerisation. [14]

Info graph of cost savings in the CSSD by containerization
Staff training in the CSSD

Staff training

Well-trained staff is a crucial part of every department. CSSD staff need to know how to handle and maintain surgical sets. For instance, poor handling practice of sterilised surgical sets, could lead to an increase of SSIs, which causes additional costs. In addition to that, professionally qualified staff, who are able to promptly identify non-functional instruments and surface changes like pitting corrosion, and subsequently dispatch the corroded ones for repair, are needed to prevent a “worst-case scenario” of systematic corrosion. By ensuring that your team is aware of these requirements, you can help preserve the value of instruments, increase their life time and reduce costs of new purchases. [15]

Face CSSD challenges with our consultancy services

Our consultants advise based on official regulations, international standards, and industry best practices in order to improve the various aspects and overall life cycle of instruments.

Read more

[1] Wong J, Khu KJ, Kaderali Z, et al. Delays in the operating room: signs of an imperfect system. Can J Surg 2010;53(3):189-95.

[1a] ABHI 2020. Quality, Safety and Value: The role of surgical instruments. https://www.abhi.org.uk/media/2680/abhi-the-role-of-surgical-instruments.pdf

[2] Stockert EW, Langerman A. Assessing the magnitude and costs of intraoperative inefficiencies attributable to surgical instrument trays. J Am Coll Surg 2014;219(4):646-55.

[2a] Maidstone & Tunbridge Wells Trust, FOI, 2019, https://www.mtw.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Decontamination-and-sterilisation-service.-300719.pdf#:~:text=It%20can%20also%20vary%20depending%20on%20quantity%20required,anywhere%20between%20%C2%A32500-%C2%A35000%20or%20more%20for%20specialist%20surgery 

[3] Wales Audit Office, 2016, https://www.wao.gov.uk/sites/default/files/operating-theatres-2016-eng_6.pdf

[4] Anazor F,. Sibanda V., Altaf K., Sowner L., Relwany J., The Impact of Sterile Instrument Set Wrapping Defects on Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery Theatre List, 2022. The Impact of Sterile Instrument Set Wrapping Defects on Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery Theatre Lists - PubMed (nih.gov)

[5) Anderson D.J., et al. Strategies to Prevent Surgical Site Infections in Acute Care Hospitals. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2008;29:51.

[6] Wick E.C., Shore A.D., Hirose K., et al. Readmission rates and cost following colorectal surgery. Dis Colon Rectum 2011;54(12):1475-79.

[7] Dancer SJ, Stewart M, Coulombe C, et al. Surgical site infections linked to contaminated surgical instruments. J Hosp Infect 2012;81(4):231-38.

[8] ECRI. Bioburden on Surgical Instruments: Patient Safety Advisory. Pennsylvania Patient Safety Reporting Sytem 2006(3).

[9] Tanner J., Khan D., Aplin C., Ball J., Thomas M., Bankart J. Post-discharge surveillance to identify colorectal surgical site infection rates and related costs. J Hosp Infect. 2009; 72: 243-250. https://www.journalofhospitalinfection.com/article/S0195-6701(17)30135-4/fulltext

[10] Aesculap statistics based on 345.890 analyzed instruments in 135 different hospital.

[11] Yoon S, Zygourakis CC, Seaman J, et al. Implementation and Impact of a Hospital-Wide Instrument Set Review: Early Experiences at a Multisite Tertiary Care Academic Institution. Am J Med Qual 2019;34(1):67-73.

[12] Stockert EW, Langerman A. Assessing the magnitude and costs of intraoperative inefficiencies attributable to surgical instrument trays. J Am Coll Surg 2014;219(4):646-55. 

[13] Aesculap. Sterilization Validation – STERILCONTAINER with Primeline Lids. 

[14] Practice Greenhealth. Greening the OR: Reusable Hard Cases for Surgical Instrumentation 2013.

[15] Amann B, Appel T, Bertram M, et al. Corrosion: an underestimated risk. Zentralsterilisation 2019(5):320-23.