Instruments brought in by Reps

[Guest]

Its been my experience that when a Rep like (zimmer/Biomet) brings in instrumentation that they usually stay after the case is finished and put their things back together and take the instuments back with them. Here as of late, our Reps are wanting to leave their stuff here and NOT put it back together and send a courier after it whenever. I dont really like this because we have had situations where something was missing after the courier got it back to their warehouse and then our facility is left responsible for the cost of the lost instrument. That only happened once because now I have a policy in place that says when they leave and dont put their things back together that we are NOT responsible. If they stuck around and took care of it right then, we would know if it indeed was lost in the case or it wasnt there to begin with.
Anyone else experience this?? What do you expect of the reps when they come to your facility?

[Guest]

In our facility when we get the trays in usually they drop them off a day or so a head of time. We run them through the washer and then we go through and do a check with whats on the inventory sheet and make our own notes too. After the tray is used it comes back up to us after the washer and we check it again to make sure the things are there that were there before the case. We do not release unless absolutely necessary until it goes through the sterilizer. Usually they come back the next day.

[Guest]

Sets are received within 24 hours of the case. Our vendor "form" is completed by the vendor and then a picture is taken of each set. (this is our "inventory" of the instruments brought in for the case). The sets are processed, wrapped and labeled for the case. At the end of the case, the sets are sent to decontam, my staff sends it through the decontaminator, it goes to the clean side for assembly. Unless the sets are needed the next day, the sets are left on our assembly cart until someone is able to assemble it. The vendor has 24 hours after the case to pick up the sets. If it isn't picked up or if they ask us to send it elsewhere, they are reminded that we are not responsible if something is missing once it leaves the premises. If we are not able to reassemble the sets before the vendor returns for it, they will reassemble it themselves and will notify us if anything is missing. We'll check the picture to see if it was there to begin with. If not, we'll show the vendor the picture that verifies it wasn't there. If it is in the picture but definitely not in the set after reassembly, we will ask the vendor to give us at least 48 hours to look for it. If its found, the vendor is contacted. If its not found, we are billed and I will sign off for payment. We've had as much as 80 vendor sets for cases the next day, and some to be turned over.

[Judy Komyanek]

We have the same problem. The reps are leaving 20 to 30 loaner trays in SPD. It is getting so bad they fill up several of our carts with there trays.
We are also having reps give us several trays to wash and sterile "just in case" they might need them. This beginning to be a huge expense because they aren't using them.

[cpdguy]

If you do not have a standard policy on loaners I would suggest that you make a policy. Use the draft guideline that IAHCSMM/ASHCSP wrote. That is a good place to start.

I would also tag each tray since you have so many that are coming into the department. ( talk with me off line about that, we have a product that can be used ). The tag would have the name of the tray, doctor, date needed,along with how many #1 of 6. It would be attached to all trays so they can be processed together. This is a good idea to make sure all the trays stay together.It helps in assembly area to keep the order of the trays together.

Also I have a sample policy on lonaers if you want a copy. I can fax it to you . Contact me off line.

[greenegldn]

You are empowered to let the Rep know what is expected of him/her in regard to leaving their instruments in your department. Many hospitals have policies that define how long a tray can stay in the facility and what they will be responsible for should items be missing. Remember you are not a warehouse or storage depot. Here at my facility we give the Rep 24 hours post case to remove their instruments or we are not responsible for anything missing. Hope this helps. :D

[cpdguy]

If you have a policy on this can you fax or email it to me.
My fax number is below.