Time Saving Tips To Improve Efficiency In The Sluice Room
Clinicians are under constant pressure to fulfil tasks as quickly and diligently as possible.
Busy wards, low staff numbers and patients with demanding illnesses are an everyday challenge in the majority of hospitals.
Clinicians are continuously tested in their ability to juggle timekeeping, efficiency and – most critically – compassion. All three must run together smoothly in order to provide the care that patients expect; not only aiding them towards recovery but allowing them to feel comfortable and dignified while doing so.
With managing human waste taking up a high proportion of nursing resources, reducing time in the sluice room is key to spending more at the bedside of patients. Of course, this can never be at the price of a sluice room’s primary function – thorough infection control.
To assist, we’ve compiled five time-saving tips to improve efficiency during sluice room operations.
1. Prioritise maceration
Not all medical facilities choose to use single-use pulp products to manage human waste, but it’s becoming increasingly the norm – and for good reason.
In comparison to reusable bedpans and urine bottles, there’s no need to spend time unloading a macerator once the disposal cycle is complete. Similarly, macerators are notoriously fast to pulverise waste and flush it through the sewerage system – some machines can take as little as 85 seconds to dispose of as many as four items.
In addition, single-use products offer increased protection against infection and thereby mitigate the efforts that would be spent containing and managing an outbreak, should it occur.
2. Use of Graphical User Interfaces
Otherwise known as ‘GUI’, graphical user interfaces allow for quick and simple use of sluice room machinery.
Providing animated operation instructions, cycle status information and even fault resolution guidance, GUI screens will quickly and effectively communicate vital machine information to prevent accidental damage. This will not only ensure effective use, but reduce the potential for wasted time as a result of clinician uncertainty – as well as the engineer costs involved in resolving breakdowns.
3. Contactless Technology
Sluice room machinery which offers contactless operation will significantly reduce the risk of infection through cross-contamination – but this isn’t the only benefit.
Using contactless technology will allow clinicians to easily open and start a machine without juggling the items they carry, making it quicker and easier to balance tasks with efficiency.
4. Self-Start Options
Self-starting machinery will, again, reduce the amount of contact a clinician must have with sluice room systems – both preventing infection and allowing clinicians to manage physical loads with greater ease.
Various start options are available to suit each facility’s requirements, ranging from self to auto start. Simply load up the machine and progress to the next task, without unnecessary delay.
5. Audio Annunciation
There’s no substitute for adequate staff training. However, during times of significant pressure, you may find yourself with an increased number of temporary staff that aren’t familiar with your ward or its technology.
In order to quickly educate new clinicians and prevent costly errors, audio annunciation is a welcome addition to sluice room machinery. It can often be provided in any language, allowing staff members to quickly and easily gain the information they need to complete the task at hand.
The Pulpmatic Eco+ macerator from DDC Dolphin is equipped with the latest technology to aid efficiency and timesaving in the sluice room.
Not only is the Pulpmatic Eco+ macerator environmentally friendly, economical and hygienic, but it saves valuable time for clinicians, too.
Featuring innovative contactless, GUI, self-start and audio technology, the Eco+ is unlike any pulp macerator your facility has used before.
Clinicians are empowered to not only provide the best methods of infection prevention, but to complete their sluice room tasks with greater speed and efficiency – allowing them to return to hands-on care of their patients in a far timelier manner.
Once the clinician steps away from the machine, it continues to save time and resources by processing waste faster than ever before whilst using 50% less water – our most economical machine ever.
Ready to find out more?
Have you seen these related articles?
