The cost of manual instrument tracking was a primary driver for Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, recognised as Germany’s best hospital. The time and cost of tracking 300,000 surgical instruments were growing at an unsustainable rate.
In order to properly service and document instrument lifecycles, the hospital needed a technology that could bypass the identification and reading limitation inherent in contaminated instruments, while ensuring seamless tracking operations in the Central Sterile Supply department both before and during sterilisation.
Pre-deployment testing
In 2016, the hospital began deploying Xerafy’s autoclavable RFID tags to track instruments. Any doubts staff had about the ability of the tags to function through multiple sterilisations were quickly put to rest through rigorous pre-deployment testing.
In 2016, the hospital began deploying Xerafy’s autoclavable RFID tags to track instruments
"We were able to test all the treatment processes that were used throughout the usual life cycle in test scenarios. There were no problems," said Sadmir Oasmancevic, Head of CSSD. The tags’ performance was established over 1,000 sterilisation cycles, including exposure to chemicals, mechanical stress during transport, and material expansion during high temperatures. The biocompatible glue used to adhere the tags to the instruments withstands contact with blood-, saline- and iodine-containing substances.
Surgical instrument counting
Most importantly, the usability of the retrofitted instruments was not impaired, and suppliers were able to confirm the instruments still met existing certifications. Xerafy’s technology will be a key component of the new Charité Facility Management building to open in 2017.
At HRAEI Regional Specialty Hospital of Ixtapaluca in Mexico, manual surgical instrument counting often resulted in miscounts or missing assets. The 246-bed hospital with 13 surgical rooms serves a community of five million people. What’s more, the sterilisation procedures in place at the hospital involved the use of sandblasting to remove deposits from instruments because of the high mineral content of the local water supply. "We urgently needed a solution for the high cost of managing our surgical instruments and operation workflow," said Jorge Mario Lopez Arango, General Manager.
School-owned instruments
The hospital staff uses handheld RFID readers to scan the tags and communicate the data
The hospital deployed Xerafy’s autoclavable XS tags after performing extensive tests throughout 1,000 autoclave cycles. Now, 97% of the surgical tools in use at the hospital are tracked using RFID. The hospital staff uses handheld RFID readers to scan the tags and communicate the data to Android tablets during sterilisation, during the building of surgical kids, and prior to each operating room procedure.
The instruments are counted within seconds while remaining in their sterile packaging. This has saved time and reduced the risk of infection. A shift in sterilisation processes led Columbia University’s College of Dental Medicine to an RFID solution. One of the dental schools, Columbia shifted from student-owned to school-owned instruments in order to centralise management and sterilisation. That meant the school was now responsible for processing as many as 300 instrument kits daily.
Cost-effective solution
The school needed a reliable, cost-effective solution to improve patient safety by ensuring proper sterilisation procedures were followed, and to better manage dental instruments for its students. The solution had to be durable, work on steel instruments, be compact enough to tag very small items, and still overcome the limitations of manual barcode scanning.
The school has tagged more than 20,000 dental instruments and 1,700 instrument kits
Using a mix of Xerafy Pico, XS, and Slim Trak tags, the school has tagged more than 20,000 dental instruments and 1,700 instrument kits. "Using RFID, we will be able to prove that an item went into an autoclave for a certain amount of time and at a certain temperature," said Phil Jennette, Assistant Director of Special Projects.
Accurate sterilisation data
The school has been able to maintain accurate sterilisation data for each instrument and cassette. Strategically positioned automated readers alert staff and prevent cassettes with missing instruments or instruments that have not been properly sterilised from being used, while automating maintenance and sharpening schedules.
"This type of technology allows for complete and accurate tracking of each instrument we use from the time it is dispensed through its utilisation, processing, sterilisation and return to storage," said Steven M. Erde, PhD, MD, Chief Information Officer. Labour savings were at the forefront of an RFID pilot test at Rigshospitalet Copenhagen in Denmark, where using RFID for instrument tracking could save 31,000 hours per year in unnecessary time spent manual tracking assets.
Good read range
Rigshospitalet needed RFID tags small enough to use on surgical instruments
The hospital, which performs some 75,000 surgeries annually, wanted to free up time for better treatment and service to patients while optimising workflows in its central sterile supply departments (CSSD) and surgical theatres. Rigshospitalet needed RFID tags small enough to use on surgical instruments, but still reliable enough to provide a good read range on metal devices.
Using Xerafy’s tags, Rigshospital became the first in the world to pilot UHF RFID for surgical instrument tracking, tracking, and tracing all functions related to surgical instruments – from the operating room to cleaning and storage – with a single system.
Providing unparalleled speed
Using the solution, up to 80 instruments can be counted at once, in seconds, with full accuracy. The tags not only perform well on the metal instruments, but can withstand more than 1,000 autoclave processes, including exposure to high temperatures, harsh chemicals, and pressure.
The tags are also small enough that they do not affect the balance of the instruments or how surgeons use them. "RFID UHF technology provides unparalleled speed and accuracy advantages compared to barcode and other RFID technologies for tracking surgical instruments," said Dr. Henrik Eriksen, Project Director.
