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Post on 06.24.2020

WHITE PAPER: New drying process yields Clinically Dry robotic arms PLUS cost and time savings

devices
PATENT PENDING


THIS WHITE PAPER IS NOW AVAILABLE IN HEALTHCARE PURCHASING NEWS MAGAZINE

The dryness of reusable medical devices is a particular concern in healthcare facilities because residual moisture can inhibit the sterilization process and provide a potential conduit for contamination. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of a novel lumen drying system and its directed air flow process for drying reusable robotic arm lumens.

Results
This study achieved its objectives:

  • We established a functional definition for the term Clinically Dry that is based on metrics any sterile processing department can implement.
  • We created a metric that can be universally applied and reproduced to measure the rate of compliance toward a Clinically Dry standard.
  • We conclusively confirmed that the lumen drying system successfully maintained uninterrupted flow at the target temperature ranges to achieve a Clinically Dry goal.
  • In addition, the data strongly indicated that 30 seconds of compressed air plus 30 minutes in the lumen drying system was the optimal drying combination, and that the correlation metric is universally applicable to all robotic arms tested.

    • Effectiveness, efficiency and staff satisfaction
    Use of the system successfully reduced drying time by 40% and increased robotic arm reprocessing productivity by almost 40%. It also led to a significant reduction in repeated reprocessing due to failures. The ability to measure and achieve Clinical Dryness before sterilization reduced the number of aborted low temperature sterilization cycles, reduced retained moisture events in the operating room, and increased end user satisfaction. There was an associated reduced cost of hourly sterile processing labor and cost per cycle, all due to this improved performance. Trained department personnel reported over 92% satisfaction with the new workflow, which also contributed to higher employee engagement scores.

    ‘Clinically Dry' devices are achievable
    Use of this lumen drying system can help reduce the amount of time required to achieve Clinically Dry robotic arms to thirty minutes, which in some cases translates to as much as an hour less of drying time per cycle. This time savings can reduce processing time overall by as much as 40%. This corresponds to a net savings, on average, of nearly $60,000 a year in operating costs and another $40,000 a year in cost avoidance (2019 dollars).

    The most important benefit, however, concerns patient safety. It can help to greatly reduce a facility’s risk of releasing contaminated lumened instruments. A department that can assure a consistent clinical level of dryness can improve the quality of the end product and the confidence in a department’s infection prevention program.