how should i monitor the soft tissue kits at work?

Hello,
So I just would like someone's opinion who works in a veterinary practice, so I've been asked at work to start checking our soft tissue kits regularly to check the instruments in there are correct as some get mixed up etc. but the way we sterilise our kits is with indicator locking tags and we have about 9 maybe kits, so I wouldn't want to open up all 9 kits to check they're correct as it would give a huge load to sterilising and if a soft tissue kit is needed urgently there wouldn't be one available.

I was thinking if I did a few at a time what could I do to monitor it so I know which one's have been done, I was thinking of using different coloured indicator tags as we just use blue ones currently.
Does anyone else have any other ideas??

Reply 1

Little Tail Chaser

Is this not checked every time the kits are scrubbed and autoclaved?

I agree it would be best to not sort out all the kits at once in case one is needed in an emergency. Could it just be done as you get through them naturally, i.e. if during a routine procedure it is noticed that instruments are missing, sort it out at the point that kit is scrubbed and re-sterilised. Alternatively and if this needs doing ASAP, could it be done at a weekend/day with fewer surgeries?

Most autoclave packets have a blank space at the bottom so that you can write the contents of the pack, date, initials of the staff member etc. Could you not just add 'Complete/checked' to this the first few times so that you know which ones have been sorted?

Going forward to avoid mix ups in future, most places I've worked use coloured autoclavable tape on the kits so at a glance it's easy to see what belongs together. Each kit can have a separate colour, even if they're kits of the same type, so you can have a red b1tch spay kit, yellow cat spay kit, green cat spay kit, blue ophtho kit etc etc. If you run out of colours you can always double them up. It's also really helpful if there's space for a big poster of all instruments (a lot of the manufacturers will give them away for free if you drop them an email, Henry Schein definitely do) . That way, VCAs etc with no formal veterinary training can identify instruments to help them know what kit they belong to.

Finally, possibly worth just checking/brainstorming with the vets what they consider to be a 'complete' kit. AFAIK there's no set industry standard for how many forceps etc should be in a kit so if you often find vets asking for extras (e.g. do you want a spay hook in every kit as standard) or if there's stuff that isn't routinely needed (are there excessive/not enough artery forceps) you can plan what works best for everyone. :smile: