| Past Issues | Printer-Friendly | Send to a Friend | Advertise | www.csao.net | October 11, 2013 |
PRESIDENT'S REPORT
 The 2013 Annual Conference was a great success. Many positive comments were voiced by delegates, as well as exhibitors. A summary of the evaluations will be presented at the upcoming Board of Directors meeting in October. This is reviewed and feedback is taken into consideration when planning for the 2014 Conference gets underway.The Annual General Meeting held at the Conference every year was also a great meeting. Constitutional changes were passed as presented. Topics of the CSAO MDR Techniques Course, finances, membership and chapter development were topics of discussion with many members sharing their viewpoint. These topics and suggestions will also be reviewed by the Board of Directors at our next meeting in October. Learn More...  The new Executive did a great job getting the conference organized this year. Well done to all of them! It was a great conference. Learn More... VICE PRESIDENT'S REPORT
 A big thank you to all of the vendor companies who attended this year's Annual Conference. Everything ran smoothly and we appreciate your support for the CSAO and the attending delegates. I would also like to thank those who participated and completed the Strategic Plan Survey. Your opinions matter to the success of the CSAO and we are looking forward to survey results in October. Learn More... EDUCATION REPORT
We currently have 222 students registered for the 2013/14 Education year. There are 206 students registered for the classroom course, 13 Re-certification, and 3 Distant Student.
We would like to welcome our new course speakers, and thank them for their continued support. Special welcome to Sean Ramsden, Mathew Stephenson, Cathy Whitehead, Sue Heyland, Wayne Viau, and Gail Vincent from Cardinal Health, Jessica Leamen from Vantage Endoscopy, Brendon O'Neal from London Laundry Services, and Robert Cullen from Acart. Learn More...
CHAPTER REPORT
The Delta Chapter is pleased to have sent 19 members to the CSAO Conference in Toronto this month.
We are planning to celebrate MDRD week in St Catherines, at the newest Niagara Health Care Facility, where we will tour their brand new MDRD . This is our first Delta meeting for 2013/14, that will take place on October 17 at 7 p.m. Please check the website for further details. Learn More... The ETA Chapter sent 22 of its members to the CSAO conference on September 8-10. The conference was a huge success. All presenters and exhibitors were great and supplied valuable education to all. The awards dinner was fun, as usual, with a great MC and entertainment once again. Congratulations to all involved in planning and who received awards this year.
Learn More...
SPECIAL EVENTS
The Annual Congress of the World Forum for Hospital Sterile Supply (WFHSS) is the prime international event for specialists of sterilization, held this year in Turkey. WFHSS and DAS Congresses have established traditions where practitioners and professionals meet together to capture innovations and new ideas in the field, and provide feedback for the future.
Learn More... This year's conference was a huge success. The education was great and the networking was paramount. A few pictures are posted.
Learn More... The second full week of October is dedicated to celebrate the activities done in Central Services Departments across North and South America. Each department staff and manager should plan an open house to teach staff throughout the facilities what type of work that is done in Central Service departments and their importance to patient care.
As workers and patients are not aware of the activities that occur behind closed doors, opening those doors for one day and displaying the great work that occurs within the departments, makes people more aware of Central Service Departments importance in infection control and direct patients care. With the spread of SARS and other diseases, today the proper reprocessing of reusable patient care items becomes more important then it ever has been. Remember if nurses and physicians do not have the instruments and sterilized items to perform procedures, patients will not receive the care they need. Learn More... CANADIAN STANDARDS & ACCREDITATION
This Standard sets out requirements for health care settings to establish, document and maintain their own policies and procedures for the reprocessing of medical devices, forming a unique internal QMS.
Learn More... Provincial Infectious Diseases Advisory Committee (PIDAC) document with latest revisions (Feb 2010).
Learn More... Accreditation Canada's Standards for the Reprocessing and Sterilization of Reusable Medical Devices were prepared in response to requests from health service organizations, regulators and governments for a set of national standards. They have been developed in conjunction with the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) and incorporate many elements from existing CSA standards.
Learn More...  The complexity and temperature sensitivity of flexible endoscopes makes cleaning followed by sterilization/disinfection difficult. While sterilization may be optimal, the minimum acceptable standard for reprocessing endoscopes is high level disinfection (HLD). At all times, cleaning must precede high level disinfection. Endoscopic accessories do require sterilization. Whenever flexible endoscopes are reprocessed, those involved in the reprocessing must adhere to the validated protocol recommended by the manufacturer of the endoscope.
Learn More... ARTICLES RELATED TO STERILIZATION AND DECONTAMINATION
The need for properly trained sterile processing staff members has grown with the increased sophistication of surgical procedures. In 1998, I conducted a survey of hospitals about various aspects of training sterile processing personnel, including the length of time for training employees to process general surgical and specialty surgical instruments. To evaluate trends, I conducted a second survey 10 years later.
A majority of the 2008 respondents indicated that training would take three to six months (60%) or six to 12 months (31%) and that most preceptors (52%) spend two to three months working with new employees. A calculation of the cost to train a sterile processing technician to the competent level, including the salary of the preceptor, was $41,414 for 2008, an increase of more than 100% from the 1998 calculation. These costs must be weighed against the loss of revenue when procedures are delayed because of missing, damaged, or unclean instruments and the patient safety issues that could result if an employee is not well trained. Learn More... Health officials in New Brunswick are urging nearly 2,500 patients to get tested for hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV after discovering that unsterilized biopsy forceps were used at a hospital clinic for 14 years.
Learn More... Eight people who may have been exposed to the fatal brain infection Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease this summer at a New Hampshire hospital have been contacted personally by the hospital's president, who says they aren't panicking.
Dr. Joseph Pepe of Catholic Medical Center called the patients Thursday, a day after health officials announced they may have been exposed to Creutzfeldt-Jakob (CJD), an incurable brain disease characterized by rapidly progressive dementia, which can cause death within months after symptoms first appear. Learn More... Greetings to All I hope everyone had a great summer. The annual conference took place once again in September. It was a great success and the feedback so far was very good. Thanks to all the sponsors and all those involved in planning this event. Congratulations to all the award winners. The Executive will soon be meeting to plan next year's conference. We are happy to be putting out this October 2013 e-newsletter to help connect and update our members.
The CSAO's Goals will continue to be to concentrate our efforts in developing and growing in the following areas: The CSAO vision shall be to provide the members of the Association and healthcare facilities with organized educational opportunities, professional development, a forum for information exchange, and member services in response to member identified needs and priorities, and to represent members in the professional community. 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 eNewsletters. |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Box 225 / Timmins, ON / P4N 7CP
Phone: 705.268.4763
Fax: 705.268.4421