Pre-packed, sterile trays of surgical products can make a significant impact on the efficiency and effectiveness of OR procedures. Find out more.
Custom Procedure Trays (CPTs) are pre-selected, sterile packs containing single-use devices for surgical procedures. They are a simple and efficient way of delivering surgical products from basic swabs, drapes, surgical blades and wound dressings, through to implants. CPTs have been configured in close collaboration with healthcare providers and clinicians to ensure they deliver the right products, in the right place, at the right time.
What are the benefits of CPTs?
When properly designed and managed, a strong CPT programme can bring efficiencies in many areas of healthcare organisations:
* Time saving and increased efficiency
Operating rooms and treatment rooms are valuable commodities and highly in demand. Therefore, it is important to minimise the time spent setting them up pre-procedure and cleaning them up afterwards. By avoiding the need to unwrap individual products and arrange them in the order they will be used, a higher number of surgeries can be completed in a given time. In fact The Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals were able to increase the number of knee surgeries they carried out by 47% when they introduced CPTs. This time saving and increased efficiency is better for patients and improves their quality of care.
* Reduced administrative burden
Because orders are placed by the tray, rather than the individual components within them, there are fewer inventory management costs and documenting and ordering processes are simplified. The increased transparency of overall surgery costs also makes it easier for managers to analyse total surgery costs * Improved patient safety The sterile trays improve aseptic control, leaving patients less exposed to healthcare-acquired infections.
* Reduced waste
By unwrapping one tray, rather than a number of individual items, there is less packaging waste. The Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals calculated that CPTs eliminated one bag of rubbish per procedure.
CPTs benefit the overall level of safety in ORs by helping to establish a sense of shared routine, standardising procedures and eliminating the risk of intermediary steps being omitted. However, this can only be the case if hospitals are able to manage the complexity of a CPT programme.
Challenges
CPTs will only demonstrate their value when they are adapted to the hospital’s conditions and the team’s routines. And that involves closer alignment between the different functions involved.
The industry must work together with the healthcare providers to create a detailed analysis of needs – pre, during and post-procedures – before they can design efficient and cost-effective CPTs.