Abstract
BackgroundSurgical instrument processing is important for improving the safety of surgical care in hospitals. However, it has been rarely studied to date. Errors in surgical instrument processing may increase operative times and costs, and increase the risk of surgical infections and perioperative morbidity. We aimed to investigate the errors occurred in packaging surgical instruments.MethodsSurgical instrument tracking system in a central sterile supply department (CSSD) was used to collect the packaging data during January–August 2016 in the First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou City, China.ResultsData on 33,839 surgical instrument packages were collected. A total of 398 (1.18%) errors occurred, including incomplete packages (n = 70), instrument missing (n = 77), instrument malfunction (n = 27), instrument in wrong specification (n = 175), wrong packaging tag (n = 8), box and cover mismatched (n = 14), wrong packing material (n = 15), indicator card missing (n = 6), and wrong count of instruments (n = 6). The highest error rates were observed among least experienced nurses (N1 level) and during the 16:00–20:00 time period (both p < 0.05). A relatively high error rate was detected in the Department of Orthopedics as well as in the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics.ConclusionWrong instrument specifications were the primary packing error identified in the current study. Further effort is needed to standardize the packing procedure for instruments under the same category and more effort is required to reduce the error rate during high risk times, or in the surgery department.
Highlights
Surgical instrument processing is important for improving the safety of surgical care in hospitals
Improvement in surgical quality has drawn public attention in recent years, as more studies report major complications occurred in inpatient surgical procedures that are proven to be associated with hospital death. [1, 2] Surgical quality can be influenced by various factors in clinics, such as clinicians’ skill, and the management of surgical instruments and supplies [3]
Recycling, cleaning, sterilization, inspection, packaging, and delivery are centrally controlled through the surgical instrument tracking systems in central sterile supply department (CSSD), which have been demonstrated to reduce the risk of errors in packaging surgical instruments, including missing and mismatched instruments [10]
Summary
Surgical instrument processing is important for improving the safety of surgical care in hospitals. In China, Zhu et al BMC Health Services Research (2019) 19:176 most hospitals have established a central sterile supply department (CSSD) to centrally manage and track the packaging of recycled surgical instruments [9]. There has been an evolution in tracking systems as new technology, faster information technology systems, and smart phones and tablets have been incorporated into the health care arena. These systems were used to manage instrument count sheets and for basic instrument traceability [11]
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