Scrub tech?

[CanadianTech2]

I read this term in one of the posts and I've never heard it before. Could someone explain?
We are having issues at our hospital in trying to have the gross soil removed from the instrumentation at point of use. The nurses have never done it, even though it seems to be a standard for every other facility I've spoken with. (The rasps and graters from the joint replacements are unimaginable!!) Believe it or not, 50% of the trays are not even sprayed with the gel we have, especially the ortho trays with lids. The reasoning is that it 'takes too long' to open the lid to spray. All the dirty instruments are thrown back into their respective trays, mixed in with the items that were never used. It's a mess to say the least! No, and they are not strung. If that were even mentioned, they'd check my temperature and/or commit me to a room with padded walls! CT

[Harvey Johnson]

You have hit on a common communication issue with the OR.
It will take some time to educate others why taking the time to do the job correctly will pay off in reduced tray turn time, less missing instruments and as a result more on-time and 100% complete sets.
I believe AORN stresses during procedures instruments are to be wiped or cleaned after use. (also check out their latest postion involving stringers and counts...I think you have them on your side)
Knowing that mixing dirty instruments with unused items waste time and $$ processing and cost money to replace items pitted by dried blood or other bioburden, our OR Manager allows SP time to conduct inservices during their training time to review policies and procedures with the nurses and techs. We have the assistance of the scrub techs who do the job correctly helping to teach others how to efficiently process instruments in the OR. As a result, with proper handling we have less missing instruments also less camera and lap instrument repairs, saving $$. (that always gets the bosses attention!)
It isn't a perfect system and yes we don't have 100% buy in, but with the support of the powers that be, it is improving.