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Central Sterilising Department make their mark

Thursday, May 19, 2022
The Central Sterilising Department use the latest technology to mark and track trays and instruments.
The new Getinge Marking Solution will see Bendigo Health instrument technicians trace the thousands of tray and instruments used in each of the health service's departments.

The happiness of the team in the Central Sterilising Department was palpable as they demonstrated their latest acquisition, the Getinge Marking Solution, which takes marking and tracking trays and instruments to a new level.

Instrument technician Jason Baker said the new equipment enabled them to carry out state-of-the-art marking with 2D matrix.

“We’re not burning the metal. We’re sealing a coating on top which minimises pitting and damaging the equipment,” he said.

CSD Manager Darren Martin said the old fashioned way of engraving would affect the passivation layer of the instruments influencing its longevity. This new laser marking process will see every instrument given an individual barcode.

“It will be trackable to every patient it’s used on, how many times it’s been used, where it’s been used, and its history including repairs and maintenance, Darren said. “All of those details will be stored electronically and are retrievable through the tracking system.”

CSD have already started marking tray tags and will move to single-use instruments. For those who like statistics, there’s 1500 trays which could contain 20 to 50 instruments at a time. When you add in all departments and outside organisations, some 280,000 items move through CSD.

“With the new system, every step of the process whether it be into the decontamination process to the washers to being repacked for sterile storage and then to the patient, this is scanned and followed every step of the process,” Jason said.

Looking at one scalpel, there will come a point in time when we will know every patient this instrument was used on, Darren said. CSD were extremely grateful that the equipment was paid for by the Bendigo Health Fundraising and Foundation.