| Past Issues | Printer-Friendly | Send to a Friend | Advertise | www.csao.net | July 4, 2011 |
PRESIDENT'S REPORT
 As a profession our focus is on patient safety through the correct reprocessing of medical devices. In today’s hospitals the operating mantra is no different than for the majority of organizations: do more with less. Yet in Medical Device Reprocessing Departments, doing more with less cannot mean cutting corners that would compromise patient safety. That’s why it is so important for all reprocessing staff to stay up to date on the latest procedures and processes. Learn More... VICE PRESIDENT'S REPORT
 I had the great opportunity to attend the National Operating Room Nurses Association of Canada bi-annual conference this spring in Regina, Sk representing CSAO. One of the sessions was titled: Sterilization & Infection Control: A System’s Approach presented by Chuck Hughes. This session was very well attended and created good discussion amongst the delegates. It was great to see the strong interest that our colleagues in the Operating Room have for the work we do and the importance of it in patient outcomes. Learn More...  One of my goals for this last reporting period was to ensure that all of our manufacturers, vendors and distributors received their conference application package. Not surprisingly at all, some didn’t or in some other cases the package was delivered to someone else in the organization. With a bit of effort and a lot of perseverance, I managed to bring up to date all the businesses that I contacted.
Learn More...  It has been a very interesting year for me being a new member to the CSAO Executive, I did not realize the amount of time and work people are putting in to ensure all CSAO members are kept well informed with the Newsletter, Education and keeping the website up to date and informative, as well as, all the planning and coordination that goes into the yearly CSAO Conference. Learn More...  As previous years I am very excited to help organizing the upcoming conference. This year we are expecting over 40 vendors that will be displaying new products and technologies within the medical device reprocessing field.
Learn More... EDUCATION REPORT
CHAPTER REPORT
THETA Chapter May 14th Education Day
This was a huge success with 25 delicates attending. Great opportunity for networking, education and discussion. We wish to thank all the vendors and in particular the following who donated to the conference; Learn More... The Eta Chapter held 3 meetings after last year’s conference and newly appointed Executive group. The chapter closed the 2010/11 year with 82 members and encourages all Eta chapter CS workers to renew and encourage your colleagues to also join and attend chapter and provincial activities. 79 students successfully completed the Classroom course last October and another 59 this past March.
Learn More... Lambda has had three chapter meetings for the 2010-2011 membership year. We held a meeting in October at which Marta McBurney from 3M gave a presentation titled "Quality Assurance". Our meeting in January had an education session in the form of a webinar. The webinar was titled "The Science Behind Steam Sterilizers"-a presentation from 3M Sterile U Online. Our annual general meeting was held on April 7, 2011 at which we held our conference attendance draw. The lucky winner is Maryanne MacDonald- Atikokan.
Learn More... SPECIAL EVENTS
"Fundamental Reprocessing – Applications and Monitoring Quality" will be held September 12 & 13, 2011 at the DoubleTree by Hilton in Toronto. The agenda and delegate registration forms will be posted online.
Learn More... Central Services Association - 2011
Welcome to the Central Services Association - 2011 reservation site! A block of rooms have been reserved for September 11, 2011 - September 14, 2011. The special room rate will be available until August 12th or until the group block is sold-out, whichever comes first. Learn More... Ottawa Convention Centre
September 29 to October 1, 2011 The CSGNA is a special interest group representing gastroenterology nurses from across Canada. The association includes endoscopy nurses, other health care professionals and workers in the field of gastroenterology, endoscopy or a related field. Learn More... CANADIAN STANDARDS & ACCREDITATION
Provincial Infectious Diseases Advisory Committee (PIDAC) document with latest revisions (Feb 2010)
Learn More... ARTICLES RELATED TO STERILIZATION AND DECONTAMINATION
A one-of-a-kind facility is forming in Tupelo which is solely dedicated to doing just that, and WTVA took a behind the scenes look at every corner of this nearly $15 million investment by the North Mississippi Medical Center.
It's over 33,000 square-feet of pure sterilization, that will serve six hospitals and over 30 clinics for the NMMC. This Central Sterile Processing and Case Cart Assembly Plant even allows the hospital to track every tool used with each surgery. "We're able to monitor instruments more to patients," says T.J. Adams, Director of Central Sterile Processing. "Being individualized based on the bar-coding system. We're able to bar code each individual instrument and track that all the way back to the patient." Learn More... Healthmark Industries, which develops products for the sterilization, decontamination, storage and security of surgical instruments and other medical devices and accessories, has launched its latest free, online game focused on the sonic cleaning process, according to a news release.
Learn More... A link to FDA (Food and Drug Administration - USA) website. On this website you can learn more about reprocessing of reusable medical devices, the challenges of reprocessing and ways the FDA is helping address problems with today's reprocessed devices while facilitating improvements in innovative design of the next generation of these devices. In addition, you can learn how to report reprocessing problems to the FDA.
Learn More... Gail Ball has arrived for work in the sterile processing department at the University of Tennessee Medical Center at 6:30 a.m. every weekday for about 25 years. Her title is sterile processing technician, and she joins about 20 others in the department to ensure the cleaning, sterilization and inspection of instruments and tools used in the UTMC operating rooms.
Learn More... In the past few years standard steam sterilization
exposure times used by healthcare facilities have increased because of the complexity of instruments and containment devices (i.e., trays, cassettes, rigid containers). What effect do these increased exposure times have on the monitoring tools and packaging used in these cycles? More specifically, what impact do these cycles have on the media contained within self-contained biological indicators (BIs). Learn More... Sterilization process failures can occur for any number of reasons: a malfunctioning sterilizer; user errors (e.g., incorrect packaging or loading procedures, incorrect cycle selection), poor steam quality, and others. If sterilization process failures are not addressed properly, potentially nonsterile items might be used on patients, placing them at risk. In this webinar, we will review the causes of, investigation of, and remedies for sterilization process failures, based primarily on the guidance provided in ANSI/AAMI ST79:2010, Comprehensive guide to steam sterilization and sterility assurance in health care facilities, and related AAMI documents.
Learn More... Testimony Says Hospital Cut Infection Control In Favor Of Building Construction
(See link below to online video) Learn More... The theft of surgical instruments at the Montreal General and Montreal Children's hospitals in the past six months are not rare incidents, but part of a "major problem" plaguing healthcare establishments across North America for years, say experts.
Learn More... We are very pleased to put out the summer e-newsletter. I hope everyone is enjoying the nice weather and slowdown period as we gear up for autumn and of course our annual conference in September. This e-newsletter will provide updates and information from the Executive Committee, Chapter reports and other articles and links related to Standards, Conferences and Educational opportunities. Please let me know if you have any ideas to add to any upcoming newsletters. I hope to see many of you at the conference in September Louis |
FMI POLL Who is planning to attend the annual CSAO conference this September?
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