No matter where they work, healthcare providers aim to provide excellent care to their patients. This includes keeping patients safe, free from injury or infection, and maximizing quality of life. Care providers in hospitals and other healthcare settings hope to treat patients and ensure the best outcomes. To help ensure this goal is met, the surgical team must trust the products they utilize during the procedure meet quality standards and will not introduce pathogens into the patient's body systems.

Anyone who has worked in medicine knows how important sterility is. Providers must be able to trust that each tool they use is safe for use. “Safe for use” in a surgical setting is ultimately defined as preventing the risk of contamination. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), a survey of Surgical Site Infections found an estimated 110,800 surgical site infections (SSIs) associated with inpatient surgeries in 2015.According to the 2022 National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) HAI Progress Report, there was a 4% reported increase in the SSI standardized infection ratio (SIR) related to all NHSN operative procedure categories combined compared to the previous year in 2021.* This is bad news for providers and their patients, for whom surgical site infections can be deadly.

Surgical Site Infections account for 20% of all healthcare-acquired Infections and are associated with an 11-fold increase in mortality risk, with 75% of SSI-associated deaths directly attributable to the SSI. They are the costliest HAI type, estimated at $3.3 billion per year, and SSIs extend hospital length of stay by an average of 9.7 days, increasing the cost of hospitalization by more than $20,000 per admission.

We are Here to Help

To reduce harm to the patient and decrease the cost of healthcare, Bioseal has created a line of single-use sterile products that assist in reducing SSIs. By listening to customer needs, and using provider feedback either in Sterile Processing or the Surgical Suites, Bioseal provides excellent solutions for each department’s needs, serving a community of patients and offering unique solutions for industry experts.

Some of these equipment solutions include:

Chest Tubes 

One of the products that Bioseal provides is made specifically for a common thoracic procedure, Chest Tube Placement. The indications for this procedure are to evacuate air or fluid from the chest cavity to prevent pneumothorax or hemothorax and to treat and prevent pleural effusion. A chest tube relieves the shortness of breath associated with these problems in the thoracic cavity.

It is vital that the placement of a chest tube remains a sterile procedure. Interestingly a contaminated tube into the pleural space can cause dangerous infections.

Once the tube is inserted and tied by suture, the chest tube is secured at the distal end to the pleura vac. The pleura vac and all equipment needed to manage it should be clean and providers should wash their hands before touching the pleura vac.

Secure Chest Tube Solution

Although the chest tube is attached and secured to the pleura vac away from the surgical incision site, an aseptic technique should be followed. Using an aseptic technique to secure the connections will reduce the risk of any cross-contamination from foreign microbes.

The Bioseal sterile Cable Tie Gun on the field is a great solution to reduce the risk of SSIs when securing chest tubes and other clean or sterile procedures. Lightweight and easy to use, this cable tie gun includes an automatic cutoff blade for removing excess tie and can tighten with one squeeze.

In Conclusion

Maintaining sterility is one of the most important parts of any surgical procedure. Single-use devices are excellent for surgical technicians, nurses, surgeons, and other providers who perform invasive procedures. These Bioseal devices are efficient, and safe, and make reaching good outcomes more achievable. As an SME in Sterile Processing and an Operating Room team member, we recommend your facility reach out to Bioseal for these solutions.

References:

Cable tie gun - 17170. Bioseal Inc. (n.d.). Retrieved October 28, 2022, from https://www.biosealnet.com/product/disposable-cab...

Barr bookmark_borderSubscribe, 6 J. 2022 B. D., Barr bookmark_borderSubscribe, B. D., Brian D. Barr bookmark_borderSubscribe Brian D. Barr leads the Food & Beverage and Technology segments of ABB Installation Products, Barr bookmark_borderSubscribe, B. D., & Brian D. Barr leads the Food & Beverage and Technology segments of ABB Installation Products. (2022, July 6). ABB Conversations - United States > How a small cable tie helps combat contamination in a big way. ABB Conversations United States How a small cable tie helps combat contamination in a big way Comments. Retrieved October 28, 2022, from https://www.abb-conversations.com/us/2022/07/how-...

PS; B. (n.d.). Surgical site infections: Epidemiology and prevention. Surgical infections. Retrieved October 28, 2022, from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12573036/

Surgical site infection - centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (January, 2024). Retrieved December 28, 2024, from https://www.cdc.gov/nhsn/pdfs/pscmanual/9pscssicu...

Chest Tube Procedure. American Lung Association (November 20, 2024) Retrieved December 28, 2024, from https://www.lung.org/lung-health-diseases/lung-pr...