Re: Saving Money

Juliet Drummond DAVN (med) RVN D32/33 — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 23:08:23 GMT

i always look to alternative suppliers.

i'm sorry, but i feel that the money saved on buying swabs ready folded is lost on the amount of staff time spent cutting and folding them!

don't underestimate the value of your time, that time could be better spent else where.

since i started in my current practice,

cloth drapes- gone in favour of disposables- ims euro do acceptable pre-packed drapes, for less than the cost of un packed disposables.

plain gauze swabs- gone in favour of x-ray detectable (i believe these to be good practice, but do not replace good theatre practice e.g. counting swabs), but mistakes can happen, and a quick radiograph tells you straight away if you need to go get a swab or not, where as you could spend time fishing around and worrying. i'm sure everyone on here is aware of this situation.

false economy is a subject i feel strongly about, and i always do costings for a few suppliers if looking at a new product or if a new supplier offers an alternative that may be worth considering.

Re: Saving Money

SmegSlayer — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 21:20:21 GMT

we get our swabs on a roll and have to cut them to size and fold them. Unfort the rolls don't come with the xray strip which really annoys me but the roll is a lot cheaper than the prepacked ones.

Use a cut down dog urinary catheter for flushing ears, then clean and cold sterilise afterwards (also good for flushing out cat ET tubes when cleaning but this one doesn't need to be cut down)

Pack infected anal glands with synulox intramammary- nozzle fits perfectly into the hole and is very effective and less messy than mixing tablet powder with water and putting it in.

cut cotton wool rolls in half- half a roll for each room (it's hard work so great exercise as well!)