Use of instruments in the Vet clinic

[monty006]

I'm hoping someone has any information or can point me in the right direction to obtain information about this subject.

We have been asked to loan instrumentation to the local vet clinic so, they can fix a working dogs broken bone. I can not find any information that saids that you can not use instruments on animals then process them for use on humans. I have looked high and low, I contacted AORN and they said it is no problem, and can think of no reason not to.
I can't get over the Yuk factor, my concern is if the public finds out that we loan our instrument for animal use and then use them on humans, we could end up on the evening news. I wish I can found information out there about this subject.

[Harvey Johnson]

It makes me wonder about the history of our loaner trays that come in, most manufacturers have demonstrated trays on animals to train reps and docs.........what happens with those instruments?
Do we really know the history of where the trays have been?
Do we really want to know???
If you are worried about the negative publicity but still want to help, why not donate to the clinic some older instruments.....or have the manufacturer's loan or donate...:rolleyes:
Good Luck!

[davidds91]

This is where the term "Universal Precautions" comes into play. In the VA system, no loaner tray of instruments is ever accepted and reused by ANY VA hospital until it has been through our Decon and is prepped and sterilized according to proper procedures. NEVER TRUST THE VENDER! The VA as a matter of policy does not use instruments that have been used on animals on humans. There is a slight possiblity of CJD contamination and as we all know, CJD (aka Mad Cow Disease) is extremely difficult to erradicate from surgical instruments. In fact, the CDC recommends tossing out any instruments that may be suspected of being used on any patient that may have CJD. The old saying is true - when in doubt, toss it out! And yes, if the news media ever found out this was taking place, you can bet there would be firestorm of media coverage - all bad I'm afraid. As an experienced CRCST, I would never accept for use instruments used on animals (other than human animals :D).

[allis]

I think instruments used on human beings should never be used on animals. When manufacturers test instruments, they do that on animals, but after the tests are completed, new sets are manufactured to be used on people. It's a bit like experiments on lab animals!

[cpdguy]

I worked at a hospital that was also research based.
We had instruments that were only used in the animal lab only.

In this case the vet hospital; they need to contact their various instrument manufacture and buy or have them loaned to them.

I agree with others , not a good IC or PR move. Keep them at your hospital.

This would be a good place for IAHCSMM to make a statement on policy;this way other professionals will start turning to IAHCSMM for guidance on these and issues facing all of us.

We are the professional group for CS.