Almost every hospital has a central sterile supply department (CSSD), or uses an external service provider for this purpose. Their job is the cleaning, disinfection, care, maintenance, sorting, sterilization and provision of medical devices. Legal standards of hygiene must be adhered to.

As with almost everything, IT support is an integral part of this area. The software supports, controls and monitors the correct flow of the entire reprocessing routine and documents it, as required by law. It is always clear which instrument is where in the reprocessing cycle. This makes it possible to predict when, for example, the required set of instruments is available again for a specific operation.

Catalogues from common instrument manufacturers are included for the important maintenance of master data and support the administration of sets, packing lists and their storage locations. Different statistical analyses provide information about machine capacity utilization, instrument inventories, complaint and repair records, which form the basis for sound cost accounting. An internal quality management system makes it possible to record and optimize reprocessing quality. In addition, all reprocessing and process data are automatically archived for the long term.

Optimum surgery planning and traceability of medical devices 

Linking the CSSD with the OR is crucial for optimum surgery planning and logistics control in the hospital process. NEXUS / CSSD offers a transparent overview of all products required for an operation. Sets of instruments are allocated and checked for availability on specified surgery dates. The availability traffic light system indicates this at a glance and enables a prompt response, e.g. prioritization of the set of instruments. This contributes significantly to optimized supply with the right instruments and thus to patient safety.

The traceability of the medical devices used on the patient is one of the legal requirements for the reprocessing of medical devices. A unique reference number is generated and stored for each reprocessing cycle. For patient-related traceability, this label number only needs to be included in the OR documentation, something that can be done most easily using a barcode scanner.

The advantages at a glance:

• Control and monitoring of the entire medical device cycle
• Support and documentation of all work steps in the central sterile supply department
• Management and maintenance of individual medical devices and sets
• Communication and link between CSSD and OR through integration in the HIS
• Planning security through availability of information in real time
• Secure traceability of medical devices based on the label number
• Various statistical analyses
• Support for quality management: acquisition of reprocessing quality data and control of quality management documents relevant to reprocessing
• Reliable and secure storage of process data for all CSSD devices, optional audit-proof archiving in an external document management system