CHICAGO, Feb. 18, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — In January 2021, Vested Medical, Inc., Elmhurst, Illinois and OrthoIllinois Surgery Center, LLC, teamed up for a highly successful proof of an innovative off-site sterilization processing program at the outpatient ambulatory surgery center located in Rockford, Illinois. Vested Medical expertly demonstrated how such a system could help increase surgical capacity, reduce sterilization processing backlogs, and minimize contamination risk while maintaining the highest standards of patient care for outpatient total joint procedures.
The collaboration with Vested Medical and OrthoIllinois Surgery Center was focused on total joint replacement instrument trays, which stress space restraints in an ambulatory surgery center sterile processing. Sterile instrument trays were customized at the Vested Medical facility based on the surgical center’s schedule and orthopedic total joint replacement surgeon Dr. John Bottros’ specifications. Upon delivery of sterile trays, post procedure trays were removed, freeing valuable space at the surgery center and maintaining optimum efficiency. These trays are transported in a specially outfitted van by certified sterile processing technicians to ensure they are always handled by highly trained, experienced professionals in the field.
Dr. Bottros commented, “The process was seamless for me, and I was pleased that by adding this service I am able to serve more patients in a given day.”
As confirmed by Leanne Brennan, the business manager at OrthoIllinois Surgery Center, “We had reached capacity with our own sterile processing, even with added shifts, and we needed to get creative if we were going to be able to accommodate a few more cases each day,” she explained. “But it’s not so much about the manpower as it is the facility and having the capacity in our sterilization department to process instrument trays quickly enough to meet our needs.”
Brennan explained they were suffering from the “total joint hangover,” when full days are dedicated to outpatient total joint replacement procedures while the staff still needs to prepare for the next day’s cases. Even with 24-hour, 7-day staff, space is limited. Outsourcing sterile processing seemed like an ideal concept to solve these problems, and Vested Medical was ready to partner to help solve this challenge.
“We built a process that was best-in-class, and met or exceeded all current and potential future regulatory standards,” explained Paul Borland, Vice President of Operations at Vested Medical, LLC. “To serve a customer like OrthoIllinois Surgery Center, we had to fully understand their needs and fit into their existing system. We try to understand the flow, touchpoints, accessibility, then capture and build that customer profile so we are a real extension of their process. It needed to be seamless.”
Of course, input, and buy-in, from the OrthoIllinois Surgery Center staff was critical. “We went to the Vested Medical facility to review the workspace and learn about the process,” Brennan said. “It was key to see the metrics and checkpoints, review the sterilization process and how everything is packaged.”
“Everything was seamless and worked according to plan. Now we are looking forward to the second half of the year when we can implement this process to help with storage and processing.”
“The surgical staff shouldn’t feel that the process changed because Vested Medical is now part of it,” Borland said. “We want to integrate to that level and in this case the fact that the OrthoIllinois staff didn’t feel any changes validated the plan. There was always a clear channel of communication from scheduling to what was needed in the cases, and that was crucial to the success of the pilot.”
“Vested Medical is taking the approach that sterile processing is critical to healthcare and should be elevated,” he said. “We’re raising the bar on the profession and the product comes out of the professionals who work there.”
Full results of the pilot program are still being evaluated and another series of measures will be scheduled at a time to be announced. For more information about Vested Medical, LLC, go to www.vested-medical.com.
About Vested Medical, Inc. – Vested Medical was formed in 2019 and is a privately funded healthcare logistics company connecting the orthopedic operating room with the manufacturers who supply them with implants and instruments. The company currently has 4 sites in various stages of operational readiness. More at www.vested-medical.com.
About OrthoIllinois Surgery Center – Operated by the physicians of OrthoIllinois, OrthoIllinois Surgery Center is a state-of the-art ambulatory surgery center utilizing leading-edge technology to support orthopedic, spine, and pain management outpatient procedures. The center successfully meets stringent AAAHC accreditation standards and was one of the first ambulatory surgery centers in the country to perform outpatient total joint procedures. https://www.orthoillinois.com/surgery-center/
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SOURCE Vested Medical, LLC
