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PENTAX Medical Enters Into An Agreement To Distribute Scope Tracking Software and Cabinets

September 17, 2020Sri Mandava Hospital Management Infection Control Joint Commission Managing Endoscopes Patient Safety Regulatory Compliance

PENTAX Medical, a healthcare industry leader in diagnostic and therapeutic endoscopy solutions, announced today a distribution agreement with Mobile Aspects for its iRIScope software and iRIScope cabinets product line.

Under the terms of the agreement, PENTAX Medical will serve as a United States sales agent of iRIScope software and iRIScope cabinets.

The iRIScope system from Mobile Aspects is a flexible endoscope tracking system that utilizes barcode and Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID). RFID can detect additions or removals of endoscopes without manual human input and identifies the endoscope that is used on each patient. The iRIScope system provides the benefits of regulatory compliance, decreased risk of cross-contamination, and increased efficiency by tracking endoscope usage. Additionally, Mobile Aspects offers iRIScope locking cabinets that meet endoscope storage guidelines via the use of HEPA filters, as well as positive pressure and optional channel drying. These iRIScope cabinets function as an optimal security system for endoscopes.

“Our commitment at PENTAX Medical is to provide our customers with solutions that help improve clinical outcomes and help efficiently manage healthcare costs while enhancing the patient experience. We are delighted to partner with Mobile Aspects, an organization that echoes this devotion,” said Gerald W. Bottero, Global President of PENTAX Medical. “The iRIScope system enables PENTAX Medical to provide a revolutionary endoscope safety and tracking solution to all hospitals and healthcare facilities in the U.S.”

“Mobile Aspects is proud to partner with PENTAX Medical to deliver the most comprehensive safety and endoscope management solution available,” said Suneil Mandava, President and CEO of Mobile Aspects. “We are excited to bring the expertise from both teams to deliver the best solution of this type to PENTAX Medical’s large customer base. iRIScope is the single truly complete endoscope management system that will work in a facility or across a health system to drive patient safety, meet regulatory requirements, and provide data for further cost savings.”

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Several Studies Take A Look At The Effectiveness Of Sterilizing N95 Masks

September 2, 2020Sri Mandava Cost Reduction Hospital Finance Hospital Management Infection Control Operational Efficiency Patient Safety Supply Chain The Business of Surgery

As Covid-19 continues to persist in many parts of the country, many US hospitals find themselves struggling to keep up with demand for personal protective equipment (PPE) for employees. Any expected surges of Covid-19 in the fall or winter of this year could potentially lead to hospital workers being put in needless danger of catching the extremely infectious coronavirus if PPE supplies continue to run low.

Masks, specifically N95 and similar masks, continue to be one of the most sought-after pieces of PPE that hospitals continue to stockpile. Some states, such as California, are even requiring hospitals to maintain a minimum amount of PPE during the Covid-19 pandemic. With all of these pressure points, some hospitals are getting creative in setting up re-use policies for N95 masks and other PPE. This article by Christopher Cheney at HealthLeaders takes a look at various studies that have been done on sterilization of N95 masks:

“Research on sterilizing N95 respirator masks for reuse includes four recent articles.

Viable alternatives to new N95 masks

Used N95 respirator masks treated with ethylene oxide or vaporized hydrogen peroxide maintain their filtration efficiency, according to a study published by JAMA Internal Medicine. Steam sterilization distorted 1860 N95 respirator masks, rendering them unsuitable for reuse; however, steam sterilization of 1870+ Aura face masks was effective, with the masks retaining more than 95% fitted filtration efficiency after a single sterilization cycle, the study found.

The JAMA Internal Medicine study also found that N95 respirator masks as many as 11 years past their expiration date maintained their filtration efficiency.

Four N95 decontamination methods effective

A recent research article, which was published in JAMA Otolaryngology—Head & Neck Surgery, identifies four decontamination methods that can recycle N95 masks without compromising the fit of the masks or the filtering material. The sterilization methods identified are ultraviolet germicidal irradiation, vaporized hydrogen peroxide, steam treatment, and dry heat treatment.

Steam sterilization for N95 masks

Two recent studies show steam can effectively decontaminate medical masks including N95 respirator masks.

A research team in China published a study in the Journal of Medical Virology on using steam to sanitize surgical masks and N95 respirators. The sanitization process, which used avian coronavirus of infectious bronchitis virus to mimic the novel coronavirus, was simple. Contaminated masks were placed in plastic bags and steamed over boiling tap water in a kitchen pot.

Researchers at Houston Methodist Research Institute in Houston published a steam sanitization study for N95 respirator masks in the journal Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology. The study featured five test subjects to verify mask fit after the decontamination process and a more sophisticated steam treatment method than the Chinese study.”

Read the full article here: 4 Research Articles on N95 Respirator Mask Sterilization Methods

For hospitals considering a process to decontaminate PPE to allow for multiple uses during the pandemic, they must have a reliable system in place to make sure they get maximum use out of the PPE without exceeding published guidance. Hospitals should also ensure that employees are only able to check out one mask at a time to ensure adequate supply for all frontline workers. Mobile Aspects is working with select healthcare systems on a novel tracking system to track PPE including N95 masks to make sure that maximum usage is reached without exceeding published guidelines. Contact us via our website to find out more.

How An Interface Between Your Inventory Management System and Electronic Medical Record Can Drive Serious ROI

August 27, 2020Sri Mandava Clinical Documentation Cost Reduction Hospital Finance Hospital Management Operational Efficiency Revenue Cycle Supply Chain The Business of Surgery

Many hospitals utilize inventory management software to track the usage of their implants and supplies in order to know when to re-order them. They can also mine this data to understand which products are overstocked or understocked and can update their PAR levels as required. This can lead to an effective and efficient inventory management program that minimizes stock-outs and maximizes inventory turns.

While the financial benefits from successfully carrying out an efficient inventory management process more than pays for the system, a lot of hospitals may be leaving a lot of additional ROI on the table. An interface between an inventory management system and a hospital’s electronic medical record (EMR) system can provide additional financial returns to hospitals that undertake such a project.

The integration of a hospital’s inventory management software to its EMR can have numerous benefits. The biggest one is the ability of the interface to reduce the manual documentation requirement placed on nurses and techs. When documenting implants and supplies during a procedure, clinicians in the room are asked to select each item used from a drop-down list in the EMR and then fill in specific details about each item such as time of implant and laterality. Some hospitals ease this documentation burden by using barcode technology to allow staff to simply scan in items that are being used. However, both systems are error-prone and can cause an undue burden on clinicians during a procedure when their attention should be on the patient in the room.

Additionally, this same interface with the EMR can also help reduce the billing documentation burden on your staff. By having supply information flow over to your billing system, which is often on the same platform as the EMR, an additional documentation requirement for clinical staff can now be automated. With these interfaces set up, clinicians will now be saved from having to double- or even triple-document implant and supply usage data across multiple systems.

In order to enable this interface, there are 2 major requirements. The first requirement is that your inventory management system allows items to be assigned to patients either at the point of removal from inventory or at the point of use. Without this crucial information being captured, the interface with the EMR will not be of any value. The second requirement is coordinating the work with your inventory management software vendor, your internal IT group and potentially your EMR vendor as well. Though there may be some upfront costs with your software vendors and some internal IT costs as well, the resulting reduction in work for your staff and increase in documentation quality will pay for this interface many times over.

If you are evaluating inventory management software vendors, or are having issues completing an interface with your current vendor, consider iRISupply from Mobile Aspects. iRISupply was built with the purpose of automating clinical documentation on top of providing all the standard benefits of an inventory management system. Using barcode and RFID technologies, iRISupply captures patient information about each item used at the point of dispensation or the point of use. With this data then automatically sent over to the patient record and billing systems, much of the manual work being done by clinicians can be eliminated.

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How To Use Data Analytics To Reduce Hospital Inventory By Over 30%

August 20, 2020Sri Mandava Cost Reduction Hospital Finance Hospital Management Operational Efficiency Supply Chain The Business of Surgery

Many hospitals have access to data from their inventory management systems that allow them to analyze usage trends of individual supplies and implants. In the procedural areas of the hospital, where many items can range in price from $500 to $25,000, the cost of having too much inventory on hand can exceed hundreds of thousands of dollars each year. An analysis of the usage data can pinpoint ways to eliminate a large chunk of that waste.

The cost of waste such as overstocked inventory becomes more severe in an economic downturn, like the one the entire world is experiencing due to the global Covid-19 pandemic. Hospitals must conserve their resources to make it through many challenging months and quarters ahead until the negative effects of Covid-19 on the economy begin to abate. Overstocked or unused inventory in the procedural areas of a hospital is typically an easy place to find opportunities to reduce large amounts of waste.

Using data from your inventory management system that allows you to compare actual usage data to on-hand inventory data, you will quickly find many items that appear to be overstocked. However, as easy as it is to identify overstocked inventory, the real challenge arises when proposing these inventory adjustments to physicians. The physicians generating the revenue for the procedural areas typically have a lot of influence when it comes to inventory product mix. When discussing items that are great candidates for elimination, physicians will typically overrule any such changes, saying something along the lines of “we may need that item at some point so we should keep it on hand”. From experience, we have found that presenting data to physicians can be the only way to successfully overcome objections that items are not ready to be eliminated from inventory.

We recommend that inventory managers begin by identifying all items that have not been used in at least a year (and sometimes two or three years!). With this data in hand, it is hard for physicians or business managers to push back, as the data tells the story and the decision becomes less of an emotional one and more a of a data-driven one. While physicians may be able to convince you that some of the items need to be kept on hand, the data should help you get agreement that a good number of the items can be eliminated, especially the items that haven’t been used in years.

We recently had a customer go through this exact same exercise in their Cardiac Cath Labs. They had excess inventories of products that were not being used, but due to old habits were expiring on the shelf and being re-ordered – the very definition of waste. Previous negotiations with physicians about reducing inventory proved challenging because the discussions were held without showing them the data. When these discussions were held with the data provided by the Mobile Aspects Customer Success team, the physicians were more flexible in determining which items truly needed to be kept on hand, and which items could be safely removed from inventory. By the time the process was completed, the inventory manager in the Cardiac Cath Labs was able to methodically reduce 30% of their inventory over a 12-month period.

In order to conserve resources and reduce waste, inventory managers need to play their part by eliminating unnecessary items that can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars per year to keep on hand for no good business reason. Data is the key to this analysis, because without reliable, clean data it will be hard to convince physicians of your findings. If your procedural areas lack the system to provide an easy-to-use data analytics tool, consider a system like iRISupply that marries inventory software with powerful analytics for supplies and implants. This iRISupply will not only provide you with the usage data and reports you need, but will take it one step further and provide actionable recommendations about which products are overstocked, understocked or that can even be eliminated altogether. Mobile Aspects supply chain experts will also sit down with you quarterly as part of a best-in-class customer success program to discuss strategies to optimize your inventory mix and review the data behind those suggestions. These recommendations can then be taken to physicians for review, a discussion that will hopefully lead to substantial savings for your department.

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N95 Masks Found To Be Effective After Single Sterilization Cycle

August 13, 2020Sri Mandava Cost Reduction Hospital Finance Hospital Management Infection Control Operational Efficiency Patient Safety Supply Chain The Business of Surgery

Many US hospitals are continuing to struggle in keeping up with demands for personal protective equipment (PPE) for employees. With Covid-19 continuing to be a menacing presence in the US, the shortage is expected to continue for the foreseeable future. Any expected surges of Covid-19 in the fall or winter of this year could potentially lead to hospital workers being put in needless danger of catching the extremely infectious coronavirus if PPE supplies continue to run low.

While many hospitals and research organizations have been conducting testing to figure out effective and practical ways to decontaminate N95 masks for multiple uses, the practice is seen by many as controversial. A new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) researched various sterilization techniques on N95 masks. As this article by Robert King at Fierce Healthcare explains:

“The study examined the fit of the masks and tested the use of three sterilization methods: vaporized hydrogen peroxide, steam and ethylene oxide. They then bombarded the masks with particles like the size of COVID-19 particles.

Researchers found that a single cycle of sterilization with hydrogen peroxide and ethylene oxide did not lead to any “deleterious effect” on the mask’s ability to filter out particles.

However, there were some downsides to the methods.

“A potential disadvantage of [ethylene oxide] sterilization is that the wearer may be exposed to residual [ethylene oxide] within the face mask,” the study said.

Steam had mixed results.

Researchers used steam on two respirator models. They found that steam visibly distorted the 1860 N95 respirators and made them unsuitable for reuse, the study said.

But 1,870-plus Aura face masks made by 3M were not visibly altered after steam sterilization and maintained more than 95% efficiency in filtering out particles.

The study, however, only looked at the effects of sterilization and reprocessing after one cycle. Some hospitals systems have reportedly been reprocessing N95 masks several times.

The nurses union National Nurses United has slammed the practice of reprocessing, saying that it goes against the manufacturer recommendations.

The union slammed federal guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) on reprocessing.

“There is no validated, scientific evidence that multiple re-use or decontamination of N95 respiratory masks is safe, and will protect a healthcare worker from being infected when exposed to a patient with the virus,” the union said in a statement back in April.

The JAMA study also examined whether N95 masks were still useful up to 11 years past their expiration date.

Results showed that even after such a long expiration, N95 masks that had intact headbands still had 95% efficiency at filtering out particles.

It also found that the fit of the N95 mask was critically important. It found that N95s in the wrong size declined the effectiveness of filtering particles down to 90%.

“This evaluation provides quantitative results on which health care administrators, supply chain leaders, and hospital epidemiologists can make evidence-based decisions to protect clinicians and other health care workers during a pandemic or long-term mask shortage,” the study said.”

Read the full article here: Study finds reprocessing N95 masks one time is acceptable alternative if supplies low

For hospitals considering a process to decontaminate PPE to allow for multiple uses during the pandemic, they must have a reliable system in place to make sure they get maximum use out of the PPE without exceeding published guidance. Hospitals should also ensure that employees only are able to check out one mask at a time to ensure adequate supply for all frontline workers. Mobile Aspects is working with select healthcare systems on a novel tracking system to track PPE including N95 masks to make sure that maximum usage is reached without exceeding published guidelines. Contact us via our website to find out more.

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Are Joint Commission Inspections About To Get Harder?

August 6, 2020Sri Mandava Clinical Documentation Hospital Management Joint Commission Patient Safety Regulatory Compliance The Business of Surgery

The Joint Commission (TJC) recently received approval from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to continue on as an Accrediting Organization (AO) for a period of two years. This comes as a blow to TJC, as CMS had previously approved them as an AO for a 6 year term in 2014.

TJC has been under increased scrutiny in recent years as government organizations have become weary of the potential conflict of interest inherent to AOs such as TJC. These organizations typically have an accrediting arm and a consulting arm that may have interconnected businesses, drawing the ire of US Congress and the White House Office of Management & Budget (OMB). As this article from AJ Plunkett at Health Leaders Media reports:

“In a special filing in the July 15, 2020, Federal Register, CMS published a notice that TJC had been approved as a hospital AO through July 15, 2022.

The federal announcement made note that the approval was only two years, instead of the six years maximum allowed by regulation.

“This shorter term of approval is based on our concerns related to the comparability of TJC’s survey processes to those of CMS, as well as what CMS has observed of TJC’s performance on the survey observation. Some of these concerns stem from the level of detail TJC provides in the daily briefings it provides to facilities, as well as TJC’s processes surrounding its staff interview practices. Additionally, we are concerned about TJC’s review of medical records and surveying off-site locations, in particular for the Physical Environment Condition of Participation (CoP),” said CMS.

In the last few months, TJC has revised or expanded standards to meet CMS demands. Among other things, according to the notice, TJC also revised surveyor training and required the AO to provide more information to hospitals during the survey’s daily briefing.

CMS said it remains “concerned about the thoroughness of review conducted within the facilities.” The agency acknowledged all the changes TJC has made, but “we will continue ongoing review of TJC’s survey processes across all their approved accrediting programs to ensure that all our recommended changes have been implemented. In keeping with CMS’s initiative to increase AO oversight, and ensure that our requested revisions by TJC are complied with, CMS expects more frequent review of TJC’s activities to avoid any continued inconsistencies.”

Read the entire article here: TJC Approved as Hospital AO for Only Two Years This Time

All signs point to the TJC becoming tougher in its accreditation surveys in the near future. Previous minor citations could turn into major ones, and major citations could turn into accreditation denials. As TJC looks to get back on the good side of the CMS during its 2 year approval period, TJC is bound to scrutinize hospitals closer than ever. Is your hospital ready? To prepare, hospitals have to make sure that they are following all of their detailed processes all of the time – and have the documentation to prove it. Consider automation tools that help track the processes that TJC and other accreditation agencies focus on during their inspections. Systems such as iRIScope and iRISecure have been developed to ensure that processes and protocols are being followed automatically since your managers can’t watch over every step of the way.

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Study Shows Positive Effects Of Forced Air Drying Of Endoscopes

July 30, 2020Sri Mandava Hospital Management Infection Control Managing Endoscopes Patient Safety Regulatory Compliance

According to a recent study published in the American Journal of Infection Control, storing endoscopes in an automated cabinet with channel drying functionality effectively reduced moisture and bacterial growth in the scopes. Because endoscopes are reusable medical instruments, minimizing the amount of bacterial growth in the periods between procedures can dramatically improve patient safety.

The study, performed by researchers at UCLA Health, compared the drying effectiveness and microbial growth of automated cabinets with channel drying capability to standard endoscope storage cabinets. A recent article by Gina Shaw at Gastroenterology and Endoscopy News detailed the results:

“Before the endoscopes were placed in the drying cabinets, they were put through a high-level disinfection (HLD) cycle in an automated endoscope reprocessor (AER).

After one half-hour of drying, all the scopes in both cabinets still had residual moisture in both internal and external channels. At the one-hour mark, scopes in the automated cabinet had no remaining moisture in the internal channels but had moisture on external surfaces, whereas scopes in the standard cabinet retained moisture in the internal channels and external surfaces. By three hours, scopes in the automated cabinet were found to be completely dry in both the internal channels and external surfaces, but moisture remained in both internal channels and external surfaces of the scopes in the standard cabinet. At 24 hours, external surfaces of endoscopes in the standard cabinet were dry, but the internal channels still retained some moisture.

In the second part of the study, the investigators inoculated each endoscope with Pseudomonas aeruginosa after it underwent HLD in an AER and compared rates of bacterial growth between the cabinets. Dr. Muthusamy and his team found significantly more colony-forming units (CFUs) in the endoscopes dried in the standard cabinets. “After 48 hours of drying, the automated cabinet resulted in 8 log, 7 log and 9 log fewer recovered organisms for bronchoscopes, colonoscopes and duodenoscopes, respectively,” compared with the standard cabinet, they noted.

“For decades, failures in endoscope reprocessing have primarily been attributed to human error resulting in breaches of existing reprocessing protocols. It is becoming increasingly apparent that although human error can play a role, existing protocols for endoscope reprocessing may also be insufficient. If moisture remains after endoscope reprocessing, recolonization with bacteria during endoscope storage can occur. Without the drying step in endoscope reprocessing, fluid may reside within endoscopes for days,” according to the investigators.”

Read the full article here: Automated Cabinets Found Superior for Endoscope Drying

As Dr. Muthusamy revealed through the study, automated endoscope drying cabinets significantly reduce the risk of passing deadly bacteria between patients by practically eliminating dangerous moisture build-up. One system that can bring these benefits to hospitals is iRIScope from Mobile Aspects, which was introduced in the last several years to guide healthcare providers through the proper, society-recommended HLD protocols every single time a scope is reprocessed. The system includes smart storage cabinets that allow scopes to hang vertically with forced air running through the channels. The system’s main benefits over other drying cabinets include a shortened drying cycle and the ability to use ambient air rather than setting up an expensive connection with the hospital’s medical air system.

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How Scopes May Play A Role In The Spread Of Covid-19

July 22, 2020Sri Mandava Hospital Management Infection Control Managing Endoscopes Patient Safety Regulatory Compliance

With endoscopes having been linked with so many superbug outbreaks in recent years, some may naturally wonder if they can play a role in the spread of Covid-19 as well. While there is no scientific research or published findings of a link between endoscopes and Covid-19, intuition tells us that endoscopes may play a role in potentially spreading the coronavirus under certain conditions.

A recent letter published in Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology by Cori Ofstead and Krystina Hopkins of Ofstead and Associates and Dr. Matthew Binniker and Dr. Gregory A. Poland of the Mayo Clinic shined the spotlight on potential scenarios under which endoscopes could play a role in the spread of Covid-19. As the letter explains:

“There is currently an urgent need to reduce the number of patients requiring hospitalization or intensive care, in part because of shortages of ventilators and personal protective equipment. Given the high bronchoscope contamination rates found during routine use in previous studies, we must now consider the possibility of bronchoscopy-associated transmission of COVID-19 or other pathogens that could cause secondary infections. Theoretically, high-level disinfection should eliminate these risks when bronchoscopes are well-maintained and reprocessed according to manufacturer instructions and professional guidelines. However, even during normal patient loads, practices are frequently substandard, and pathogens are commonly present on patient-ready endoscopes. The presence of gastrointestinal pathogens found in bronchoscopes and BAL samples suggests the possibility of cross-contamination caused by intermingling bronchoscopes and gastrointestinal endoscopes during reprocessing. This hypothesis is supported by findings at one hospital where protein and bioburden levels on brand-new bronchoscopes increased significantly following manual cleaning prior to any clinical use.

Researchers recently reported COVID-19 patients presenting with diarrhea and abdominal pain, with fecal carriage of SARS-CoV-2 among severely ill and asymptomatic patients. Thus, extreme care must be taken to minimize cross-contamination during all endoscope reprocessing.

Reprocessing effectiveness has not been evaluated in epidemic settings, and research is needed to confirm that COVID-19, influenza viruses, and other pathogens are eliminated in these settings. The use of sterile, disposable bronchoscopes would substantially reduce the risks for patients and reprocessing personnel, and this approach has been recommended by the American Association for Bronchology and Interventional Pulmonology. However, single-use bronchoscopes are not universally available and may not be sufficient for advanced bronchoscopy. When reusable bronchoscopes must be used, they should be segregated from gastrointestinal endoscopes and sterilized rather than relying on high-level disinfection.”

Read the entire letter here: Potential impact of contaminated bronchoscopes on novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients

Some hospitals may be reluctant to sterilize endoscopes or use disposable endoscopes for many reasons, including cost and efficacy. As the letter points out, the infection risk with high-level disinfected endoscopes continues to be a major worry for patients and hospitals alike. Facilities must ensure staff are trained on general infection control principles and must adhere to reprocessing best practices, and they must be prepared to discuss the risks of endoscope-related procedures with their patients. To ensure that your staff is following reprocessing best practices on every scope they disinfect or sterilize, install additional checks and balances into your workflow so that you can document that your staff is following the same process each time. Software systems such as iRIScope have been introduced in recent years to help hospitals and surgery centers ensure that each of their flexible endoscopes is reprocessed the proper way each time, and documentation of their reprocessing is kept electronically using advanced RFID technology. These systems safeguard the scope disinfection process by employing artificial intelligence to determine if scopes are adequately reprocessed before their next use. With these systems in place, staff and patients can be more confident that their endoscope-related procedure won’t result in a life-threatening infection such as Covid-19.

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4 Methods For Effectively Decontaminating N95 Masks

July 16, 2020Sri Mandava Cost Reduction Hospital Finance Hospital Management Infection Control Operational Efficiency Patient Safety Supply Chain The Business of Surgery

With Covid-19 showing no signs of slowing, much of the US healthcare system is suffering from a lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) for its frontline employees. The shortage is expected to continue for the foreseeable future, potentially leading to hospital workers being put in needless danger of catching the extremely infectious coronavirus.

Many hospitals and research organizations have been conducting testing to figure out effective and practical ways to decontaminate N95 masks for multiple uses. A recent study published in JAMA researched the various articles published on the subject and found 4 of the best ways to decontaminate N95 masks to maximize the longevity of each mask. As this article by Christopher Cheney at HealthLeaders summarizes:

“To ensure adequate supplies of N95 masks, decontamination of the respirators has become a matter of necessity at many healthcare facilities. The recent research article, which was published in JAMA Otolaryngology—Head & Neck Surgery, identifies four decontamination methods that can recycle N95 masks without compromising the fit of the masks or the filtering material.

Ultraviolet germicidal irradiation

In a 2018 study, researchers used ultraviolet light to process 15 different N95 mask models contaminated with the H1N1 influenza virus. The ultraviolet germicidal irradiation significantly reduced virus viability in 12 of the 15 models.

In an April 2020 study, ultraviolet germicidal irradiation of N95 masks was effective over three rounds of decontamination. However, the researchers found that the UV light treatment process required more time than other decontamination methods.

In a 2009 study, exposing respirator masks to UV light for 30 minutes was found to be an effective decontamination method.

Vaporized hydrogen peroxide

The 2009 study also found vaporized hydrogen peroxide treatment effective in decontaminating respirator masks. In that study, researchers exposed contaminated masks to vaporized hydrogen peroxide for 55 minutes.

Steam treatment

In a 2012 study, microwave-generated steam and oven-generated steam were found effective in treating N95 masks contaminated with H5N1 influenza virus in droplet form.

In a Stanford Medicine study, treating N95 masks with boiling water vapor for 10 minutes was found to be an effective decontamination method for Escherichia coli bacteria.

Dry heat treatment

The Stanford Medicine researchers also found dry heat effective in treating N95 masks contaminated with Escherichia coli bacteria. The masks were exposed to dry oven heating at 70°C for 30 minutes.

Low-resource decontamination option

For healthcare facilities that lack the resources to adopt active decontamination methods for N95 masks such as UV light or steam heating, “time decontamination” is a viable alternative, the JAMA Otolaryngology—Head & Neck research article says.

In time decontamination, healthcare workers use an N95 mask, then store the mask in a time-stamped paper bag for reuse. “Since the surface viability of the novel coronavirus is presumed to be 72 hours, rotating N95 respirator use and allowing time decontamination of the respirators is also a reasonable option,” the research article says.

If time decontamination is utilized to reuse N95 masks, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that masks should be out of service for five days.”

Read the full article here: Coronavirus: 4 Methods Effective in Decontaminating N95 Respirator Masks

For hospitals considering a process to decontaminate PPE to allow for multiple uses during the pandemic, they must have a reliable system in place to make sure they get maximum use out of the PPE without exceeding the allowable limits. Hospitals should also ensure that employees only are able to check out one mask at a time to ensure adequate supply for all frontline workers. Mobile Aspects is working with select healthcare systems on a novel tracking system to track PPE including N95 masks to make sure that maximum usage is reached without exceeding published guidelines. Contact us via our website to find out more.

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Tired Of Cycle Counting Your Inventory? Try RFID Technology

July 9, 2020Sri Mandava Cost Reduction Hospital Finance Hospital Management Operational Efficiency Supply Chain The Business of Surgery

For inventory managers and inventory techs in hospitals, the cycle counting process for reconciling inventory can be a time-consuming burden. On top of managing day to day activities to keep their departments fully stocked with inventory, they have to carve out time for this labor-intensive activity. Typically, these cycle counts happen once per quarter – sometimes more, sometimes less. Depending on the frequency of stockouts, some inventory managers may elect to do more frequent reconciliation, even as often as weekly for items that tend to stockout the most.

While extremely time-consuming, cycle counts are necessitated by the way that we track our inventories. Barcoding and other manual or semi-manual systems require cycle counting because they are inherently inaccurate. When a user removes an item from inventory without recording that transaction in the system, inventory counts are immediately thrown off. As more users forget to record the removal of items from inventory, the accuracy of inventory counts continues to degrade. More often than not these manual systems think they have more items than are actually in stock, leading to frequent stockouts.

If cycle counting of items and frequent stockouts of high velocity or high value items are an issue at your hospital, consider RFID technology as a way to improve your processes. Systems such as iRISupply eliminate cycle counting activities by using RFID technology in smart cabinets to provide a perpetually accurate view of inventory. All items stored in the RFID smart cabinets are automatically recorded as stocked or removed, so understanding how many items are currently on the shelf and how many items need to be re-ordered becomes a simple task that can be completed from the comfort of your desk. This real-time data allows hospitals to minimize and even eliminate stockouts by knowing exactly the right number of items to stock based on consumption data. Powerful, built-in analytics from the system also allow for continuous improvement by providing real-time statistics about your inventory. For example, you can identify slow-moving or unused items that may need adjustments, leading to a more efficient and profitable operation.

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