"I've got a very simple test I like to share with Hospital Administrators, SPD managers, and Quality & Risk personnel when I get questions about "if this instrument can be used on a patient"...
I call it "The Newspaper Test."
Here's how it works.
When someone brings you an instrument with a questionable issue:
👉 Maybe there's cracking instrument marking tape
👉 Maybe the jaws are not quite aligned
👉 Maybe there's a minuscule chip out of the jaw of the needle holder
👉 Maybe there cord has become randomly 'sticky' for some reason
👉 Maybe there was (so called "sterile bone") found inside
etc., etc., etc.
I simply ask, "Would you be comfortable taking a photo of this issue and putting it on the front page of your local newspaper?"
The answer is always, instantly, 100% of the time "NO!"
And this exchange highlights one of the many things that is so broken about healthcare these days. At a high level, we (as an entire clinical profession) are far too comfortable doing things behind closed doors that we would not be comfortable putting in front of patients or the public.
More and more of us are growing bolder and more willing to "stop the line" in these instances. But at the same time, health systems are bold in their own way of firing those who are brave enough to speak up.
I do wish more people would use the newspaper test.
And I wish more newspapers knew what was going on in SPD.
Not because they get the reporting and facts right (because most of the time they do not), but because the patient on Main Street deserves to know the real state their instruments are in before they get an SSI...
Transparency on this topic is an undeniable good.
So why are we so unwilling to pursue it?
What say you?"
- Hank Balch
I call it "The Newspaper Test."
Here's how it works.
When someone brings you an instrument with a questionable issue:
👉 Maybe there's cracking instrument marking tape
👉 Maybe the jaws are not quite aligned
👉 Maybe there's a minuscule chip out of the jaw of the needle holder
👉 Maybe there cord has become randomly 'sticky' for some reason
👉 Maybe there was (so called "sterile bone") found inside
etc., etc., etc.
I simply ask, "Would you be comfortable taking a photo of this issue and putting it on the front page of your local newspaper?"
The answer is always, instantly, 100% of the time "NO!"
And this exchange highlights one of the many things that is so broken about healthcare these days. At a high level, we (as an entire clinical profession) are far too comfortable doing things behind closed doors that we would not be comfortable putting in front of patients or the public.
More and more of us are growing bolder and more willing to "stop the line" in these instances. But at the same time, health systems are bold in their own way of firing those who are brave enough to speak up.
I do wish more people would use the newspaper test.
And I wish more newspapers knew what was going on in SPD.
Not because they get the reporting and facts right (because most of the time they do not), but because the patient on Main Street deserves to know the real state their instruments are in before they get an SSI...
Transparency on this topic is an undeniable good.
So why are we so unwilling to pursue it?
What say you?"
- Hank Balch