The OR Today webinar “Perioperative and Sterile Processing Electrosurgical Instrument Best Practices: Stay Ready So You Don’t Have to Get Ready” was sponsored by Key Surgical and presented by SPD Clinical Educator Jamie Zarembinski, CCSVP, CER, and OR Clinical Educator Michelle Lemmons, RN, BSN, PHN, CNOR, CCSVP. It was eligible for one (1) CE credit. OR Today has been approved and is licensed to be a Continuing Education Provider with the California Board of Registered Nurses, License #16623.
In the webinar, Zarembinski and Lemmons reviewed the 2021 AAMI and AORN updated guidelines surrounding best practices for the care, evaluation and protection of electrosurgical instruments. The discussion detailed some of the changes that were made, why they are significant, and how they impact the daily practice of sterile processing and perioperative professionals. Further, they talked through the consequences of a reactive approach to instrument care versus a proactive approach; stay ready so you don’t have to get ready.
A question-and-answer session provided additional insights. One attendee asked, “If installation damage is hard to see, what is the point of a visual examination?”
The answer was that sometimes you can catch something at the time of installation.
Another question was “How can SP and OR communicate installation damage?”
Zarembinski said that it is important to have a facility policy to lay out that communication pathway. So, if there is an installation failure, if it happens in the operating room, there is a way for them to communicate to sterile processing so that they know to keep an eye on that and send it out for repair.
More than 100 individuals attended the live presentation with even more logging on to view an on-demand recording of the webinar. Attendees provided feedback via a survey that included the question, “Why did you attend today’s webinar? And, was it worth your time?”
“Hands down worth my time. I’m working on completing an assignment that’s regarding insulated instruments,” Medical Supply Technician B. Yulfo said.
“I want to stay current with surgical services initiatives and care practices,” Vice President F. Roster said.
“Informative, insightful, interesting and very worthwhile,” said J. Harper, COO/SVP sterile operations.
