How can a staff member be sure an instrument needs to be repaired, versus replaced?
Spectrum: We’ve developed a sharpness test kit to assist sterile processing professionals in determining if an instrument requires sharpening. The kit provides testing standards for many instruments, including scissors, arthroscopy punches, laparoscopic scissors, Kerrison rongeurs and more. Furthermore, the hospital’s instrument repair vendor should play a part in assisting with making these decisions. A good repair vendor will make sure that the instrument sets are being serviced with the patient’s safety in mind, thus removing instruments that don’t pass quality standards. Examples include instruments that are cracked, broken or have exceeded their useful life and can no longer be repaired. It is wise to follow the advice offered by your repair technicians when evaluating these instruments. You would never want to ignore their advice, only to find that the instrument fails in a critical surgical situation.
