Mobile Surgical Instrument Tracking System - tracking reprocessing flow and tracing utilization history of reprocess and reuse medical devices in United Christian Hospital

Abstract Description

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Authors (including presenting author) :

FH HUI(1), YC TSUI(2), ML GOT(2), KH CHAU(3), YH WONG(1), SH AU YEUNG(3), TF LEUNG(1), KP MAN(4), CK CHENG(4), HK NG(4),CF LI(4)

Affiliation :

(1)Operating Room, United Christian Hospital, (2) Endoscopy Centre, United Christian Hospital, (3) Central Sterile Supply Department & Theatre Supply Unit, United Christian Hospital, (4) Hospital Authority Information Technology

Introduction :

In early 1999, a catheter which was labeled and designed to be single use had been used six times and eventually broken off and lodged inside the heart of a thirty-two year old woman in United State. Many hospitals in Hong Kong and other countries reprocess and reuse medical devices designed for single-use only. In order to enhance patient safety, Hospital Authority (HA) put forward the policy for monitoring reprocess Single Use Devices (SUD) in 2011 and developed a web-based SUD utilization system for tracking and tracing reprocessed SUD in Dec 2016. In 1st quarter of 2018, three hospitals including Operating Room (OR), Endoscopy Centre (EC) and Central Sterile Supply Department (CSSD) of UCH, PWH and PYNEH were selected to use the system.

Objectives :

1) To develop a mobile Surgical Instrument Tracking system (mSITs) and integrate it into existing Surgical Instrument Tracking system (SITs). 2) To enhance the tracking and tracing system of reprocess SUD

Methodology :

Key features: 1) Can be used with iPad air device with Bluetooth scanner in operating theatre 2) A pop-up screen will be shown if the item is expired 3) Automatic counting for the reprocessing and check-out frequency 4) The item is not allowed to check-in for sterilization if the reprocessed limit is exceed. System development: Work Group with representatives of seven clusters in HA were established to develop mSITs. The operating objectives of the system were defined and a prototype was developed. System demonstration and introduction were conducted in Nov 2017. Minor revision was made after functional test in Jan 2018. Implementation: Data regarding 81 types, 212 coded class I & II SUD from seven specialties were input by phases of EC and OR from March to April 2018 in UCH. System function test and trial run were conducted in UCH CSSD, EC and OR in March and May 2018 respectively. The system was commenced in Jun 2018.

Result & Outcome :

Evaluation: The mSITs managed 2540 reprocessed SUD from June to November 2018 in UCH. The utilization record of 867 patients can be retrieved within minutes. Limitation: The expected and actual reprocessing frequency and SUD unit are difficult to mark on some SUD, e.g., wire and drill bit. Thus reprocessing frequency of these SUD may not be guaranteed. Conclusion: The newly developed mSITs is able to manage reprocessed SUD in HA effectively. It can trace patient and SUD utilization record within few minutes.