Reusing medical supplies

[TeresaRN2b]

What do you think of doctor's offices that reuse medical supplies? I am not talking about things that are sterilized and standard to be reused. Here are two examples.

One, I worked as a CMA for a family practice doctor and he had us reuse the ear pieces for the otoscopes (not sure of the right word for what I am looking for). He would have us clean them with alcohol and reuse them. Personally I thought that was really cheap and not very sanitary.

Then second example, my OBs office sent me home the first visit with a sterile urine cup. Well I bring it in and they rinse it out and wipe it dry with a paper towel and hand it back to me for next visit. I also found that very cheap and unsanitary. I mean if they are that low on money buy the dixie cups instead of using sterile cups and have the patients give urine in the office (which all my previous doctors have done). Needless to say I didn't come back with the cup for the next visit.

Anyhow, wondering what your thoughts are on this. How common is this? Am I wrong to think this is really unsanitary?

[SmilingBluEyes]

Originally posted by flowerchild

SmilingBluEyes,

Federal and state funding through grants and special project money. I do bill MCD but the money goes into a fund that is for the program but not the individual clinics. We used the money last year from the MCD to pay nurses when the state pulled some of it's funding.

Thank you flowerchild. That helps me understand more.

[Sleepyeyes]

Originally posted by MishlB

And back in the day...there were superbugs, just that now we have meds to treat them, so they are no longer so super.

Please tell me if I read your post wrong, but

That is soooo not true. We have resistant TB, VRE, MRSA--super-bugs that became super from the injudicious and incorrect use of antibiotics.

[MishlB]

Originally posted by Sleepyeyes

Please tell me if I read your post wrong, but

That is soooo not true. We have resistant TB, VRE, MRSA--super-bugs that became super from the injudicious and incorrect use of antibiotics.

I think you read it wrong...I know there are some out there. I was referring to other possible bugs...........thanks!!!!!!!!

[tonchitoRN]

i used to live in a usa territory where unemployment is high and the economy is down. the hospital would provide one set of sheets, if you wanted them changed you had to bring your own, you had to provide your own pillow. when you go to the md office and he ordered tests you would go to the lab to have the blood drawn and then you had to go back to the lab to pick up the results and take them yourself to the office (only abnormal results were called by the lab personnel to the md office). these are a few examples of cutting costs by the gov't. you might think this is so horrible but let me tell you. i paid $210 a month for private health insurance for a family of 4. i could get a cbc for as little as $35-$50 cash, to have a baby costs less than $2000 which includes prenatal care and a normal vag. delivery. the md's were trained in usa accredited schools. the care was good. so the next time you complain about reusing medical equipment take a look at your health insurance premiums, take a look at your bills if you had to pay cash. ask yourself would you be willing to do some of the labor yourself to save some money.

also, someone posted that the usa has the resources. check again. hospitals are going out of business, md's are retiring early. the resources are not like they used to be.

[brianpribis]

[so the next time you complain about reusing medical equipment take a look at your health insurance premiums, take a look at your bills if you had to pay cash. ask yourself would you be willing to do some of the labor yourself to save some money. ]

That was the point of the post I wrote earlier. Here we are telling patients they have to carry around used urin cups and while those kind of reuses sound neat (or horrific) they really are not where the problem lies. There is so much overspending by doctors and hospitals that, if fully known, would make saving money on a few reusables look silly. Just check out the income of some of the hospital administrators. I am all for people making good money but I do have a problem when a small city hospital pays the hospital president (or whatever they call him/her) over $250,000 plus a load of beni's while at the same time complaining that they can't afford to pay the nurses.

As to insurance and premiums I would be glad to pay less and do more work! My premium (if I could afford to pay it) would be around $500/mo (not to mention a deduct of $1000). That is the other thing about all this, in situations where people have seen the sort of petty cut backs that we have seen on this continent they haven't seen the savings passed onto the patient (o.k. lets not get into HMO's and managed health care here!).

(Stepping down off the box now ;-)

b--

[dawngloves, BSN, RN]

Originally posted by tonchitoRN

. you might think this is so horrible but let me tell you. i paid $210 a month for private health insurance for a family of 4. i could get a cbc for as little as $35-$50 cash, to have a baby costs less than $2000 which includes prenatal care and a normal vag. delivery. the md's were trained in usa accredited schools. the care was good. so the next time you complain about reusing medical equipment take a look at your health insurance premiums, take a look at your bills if you had to pay cash. ask yourself would you be willing to do some of the labor yourself to save some money.

also, someone posted that the usa has the resources. check again. hospitals are going out of business, md's are retiring early. the resources are not like they used to be.

Not for nothing, but that's about what I pay for my insurance, that also covers labs, prenatal care and my deductable is $500 which is waived because I work for the hospital where I delivered.

I would wonder about where else an MD would be cutting cost if I was expected to BYOSC. As it was sited, you can get paper cups at Sam's Club pretty darn cheap.

An OB's insurance is outrageous, but nickle and diming isn't going to pay the premiums of 100k or more.

[TracyB,RN, RN]

Zudy, some diaylsis filters are made to be re-used, due to some type of reaction that some diaylsis patients may have when a new filter is used. I can't remember the exacts of what the syndrome is called. But when the filters are used again, they are only used on the same patient.