Hospital Sterilisation Consulting
Streamline your sterilisation strategy and minimise the cost of compliance with AS/NZS4187:2014.
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Surgical instruments, endoscopes and other medical devices which come into contact with patients must be cleaned and sterilised according to applicable standards and guidelines.
This is done in the hospital’s Central Sterile Supply Department (CSSD), which is usually housed near the operating complex or theatres.
Upgrading to the latest revision of standard AS/NZS4187:2014 requires significant investment from hospitals over the next few years.
Failure to meet this standard puts ongoing activity at risk, giving many hospitals cause for financial and operational concern.
Benefit From Our Global Experience
opunake has a long history of involvement in hospital engineering and hospital commercial projects around the world, often in extremely challenging environments. Leveraging our global experience with a wide range of sterilisation services: on-site, off-site and outsourced, we work with you to create the most efficient sterilisation solution for your business.
We look at your sterilisation project from two perspectives:
Commercial
Understanding your facility’s real needs, minimising the scope and expense while still fulfilling compliance obligations and allowing for forecast growth.
Technical
Our detail-oriented engineering solutions set you up for success.
Work With opunake
Get expert advice and practical solutions at any stage of your sterilisation project.
Project Management
Planning & Simultation
Engineering
CSSD Upgrade Projects
Project Management
All too often the small details, like a missing connection or poorly-timed delivery, wreaks havoc on project timelines and already tight budgets.
As project managers, we ensure that everyone involved is working towards the same goal and precious resources aren’t wasted.
We coordinate:
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design and design updates with CSSD management & staff, and theatre unit managers
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infection control specialists,
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architects & engineers
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construction companies, and
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equipment and consumables suppliers.
Regular, concise and timely updates keep you in the driver’s seat at all times.
Planning & Simulation
Before planning changes to your sterilisation department, you need a detailed understanding of the impact on the theatres involved.
We do this by modelling your current situation using a comprehensive analysis tool. This compares the load on your CSSD with its capacity to deal with the load, and what impact this has on turn-around time, staffing levels, and equipment.
These fundamental parameters drive the (re)design of your CSSD, logistics plans and systems, instrument stock, staffing rosters and equipment.
We incorporate this information into a detailed project plan which takes into account the needs of your facilities—particularly minimising the impact of any shutdown of sterilisation capacity.
Engineering
Once you have a clear picture of what is required to maintain compliance against AS/NZS4187:2014, concept and detailed design can begin.
The smallest forgotten detail can be responsible for delayed start-up, impacting on project costs or (long term) hospital revenue. In particular, the interfaces between building and equipment are often a source of on-site delays.
Our design checklists and attention to detail ensure that nothing is left out.
Maximise Space
We’ll help you design a layout that satisfies AS/NZS 4187:2014, the Australasian health facility guidelines and other guiding documents. Ensuring a clear workflow maximises productivity and eliminates causes of cross-contamination.
Reduce Power Expenditure
Reprocessing equipment uses a lot of power. We’ll show you how a range of alternatives and trade-offs can fit the CSSD within the overall facility’s power budget.
Access Specialist Building Services
A CSSD requires utilities like compressed medical air, water treatment plant, reticulation of treated water, power, specific drainage requirements.
CSSD Upgrade Projects
We provide independent advice on sterilisation departments, focusing on:
Precise project management, technical requirements and change management for your CSSD change project.
The logistics that ensure trays and devices are available in theatre as required.
Partnering with recognised infection control experts to provide you with a seamless service covering all aspects of your project.
Deciding To Centralise
Many multi-site healthcare providers are considering centralising sterilisation services, either at an on-site or off-site location. Doing so reduces the number of CSSDs that require upgrading to meet the criteria of AS/NZS4187:2014.
On-Site
On-site sterilisation involves providing services to one hospital from the CSSD of another hospital. This requires the transport of soiled reusable medical devices (RMDs) between hospitals.
Off-Site
Off-site sterilisation involves choosing an alternate location and establishing a specialised facility that can process RMDs for several hospitals.
A Tailor-Made Solution for Your Hospital
European experience shows that both on-site and off-site solutions work well. However, careful assessment of each hospital’s requirements will ensure that it’s well served by a centralised sterilisation service.
We work with you to tailor a solution for your hospital or group of hospitals. This provides the right balance between cost and responsiveness to unexpected but inevitable events.
The process of transitioning to a centralised solution requires in-depth front-end planning. We take a detailed look at flows from your entire system, taking changing levels of activity over time into account.