Disposable gowns

Re: Disposable gowns

Tracy Windler RVN — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 13:22:28 GMT

[quote user="Sal (the 1st) Holesworth VN CMH Chyp (M)PNLP"]Sorry if you find the mention of profit margins distasteful, but thats business for you [/quote]

Don't find it distasteful, I actually thought it was good that someone pointed out that re-using gowns and drapes was actually more economical as well as better for the environment!

Re: Disposable gowns

Kim Buckley — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 17:39:32 GMT

Thanks for everyones input. I was just wanting to get a few in as we only have 2 gowns and so would be handy to have some disposable ones just in case.

Re: Disposable gowns

Sal the 1st — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 13:52:17 GMT

Drapes were first mentioned by Amy - not myself , and I wouldnt have bothered posting but I was amazed at the cost of resterilizing a drape! - especially as I had costed this myself for a considerably lower sum

I agree disposables have their place as do reuseables. Sorry if you find the mention of profit margins distasteful, but thats business for you

Re: Disposable gowns

Tracy Windler RVN — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 13:25:23 GMT

I think the original thread was aimed at disposable gowns? No?! So the arguement for/against drapes re: strikethrough etc is not half as relevant to that querie. I think it is fair to keep in a few disposable gowns, for high-risk procedures, but otherwise, please lets think of our environment (and our profit margins, it seems!) and stick to good-old cloth gowns! I try to keep a few autoclaved, then a few just cleaned and stored out of the way for use in non-sterile procedures. This prevents opening an autoclaved gown when not necessary.

Re: Disposable gowns

Sal the 1st — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 12:06:41 GMT

how many more adverts can we get on a single thread?

Re: Disposable gowns

purfect247 — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 11:41:05 GMT

Dear Kim

Please find our recent advert for disposable gowns we supply a huge range for all types of procedures including Oncology work, we also offer bulk discounts for standing orders, this is a great way of ensuring that you have good supplies of disposables when you need them at competitive prices.

Regards

David Morley

J.A.K Marketing Limited

Re: Disposable gowns

Sophie Bedford RVN CertVNECC — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 10:19:25 GMT

Hey guys, The other thing to bear in mind with the disposable ones is that yes they are disposable, BUT they will need to go into clinical waste - you get charged for this to be collected and disposed of so when you're pricing up your case don't forget to add in probably an extra bag or 2 of clinical waste to your weekly collection, and then the extra cost of the clinical waste bags in the first place.

Just a thought!

Re: Disposable gowns

Phrin Vernon RVN — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 23:15:08 GMT

playing devils advocate, how much would the use of a waterproof drape beneath the cloth one add? why not just use a waterproof disposable drape?

and i can see your point about suction, but often cloth drapes are saturated through at the surgical site just from capilliary ooze, or the use of a bit of flush. suction would not be able to prevent that.

i also appreciate your point about being environmentally friendly, but i really do think that disposable drapes, which although not waterproof, offer a much higher resistance to strikethrough are the way to go. asepsis vs enviromentally friendly in a surgical environment only has one answer for me.

outside the surgical environment, i am with you, and i do reduce, reuse and recycle as much as possible!

of course, gold standard would be waterproof adhesive drapes, plus the usual waterproof drapes, but how often does that happen in general practice? i had the priviledge of assisting an excellent ortho surgeon once, and he triple draped; adhesive waterproof, disposable 'waterproof', finally followed by cloth (presumably because their weight makes the whole lot easier to handle... or perhaps he just liked green )

Re: Disposable gowns

Sal the 1st — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 22:11:30 GMT

[quote user="amy sinton"]

Based on qualified nurse preparing drape:

Nurse time 7 mins £1.05

[/quote]

thats an hourly rate of £9 - which is quite a bit more than most places I have worked unless I am locuming.

there is no way a single drape would cost over £2 to clean pack and sterilise. When I worked out the pricing for resterilising drapes when I was working for one of the major animal charities based on a washer load of drapes, the time and materials taken to wash, dry, roll, pack and sterilise re useable drapes was actually closer to 40pence per drape which worked out cheaper than disposables.

Like it or not there is a place for reuseable drapes just as there is for disposables - if there wasnt they wouldnt still be teaching how to fold them for the exams, there are surgeons that prefer cloth as it drapes better and disposables often dont - yes I know all about strike through and if that is anticipated as a problem maybe use a waterproof drape underneath - or better still use adequate suction to help prevent the strike through occurring in the first place.

In this age of people being 'green' (no pun intended) is it really environmentally friendly to be producing more throwaway waste? - when there are alternatives

another way to look at this maybe more simplistically - more disposables, higher cost to the practice for consumables = less practice profit = less chance of a wage rise.

Re: Disposable gowns

Gillian Mostyn — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 15:08:11 GMT

[quote user="amy sinton"]Nurse time 7 mins £1.05[/quote]

7 minutes for one drape? Did they have a cup of tea too???

[quote user="amy sinton"]

Wash cycle/load £0.50

Dry cycle/load £0.50

[/quote]

£1.00 per drape for wash and dry? Are you washing them on their own?

hahaha - sorry - couldn't resist!

Re: Disposable gowns

amy sinton — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 14:35:40 GMT

ps. we also sell disposable gowns!

Re: Disposable gowns

amy sinton — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 14:33:45 GMT

Hi Kim,

I asked one of my customers to do this excercise for me for a drape and her response was below

Based on qualified nurse preparing drape:

Nurse time 7 mins £1.05

Autoclave bag large £0.16

Wash cycle/load £0.50

Dry cycle/load £0.50

Purified water £0.60

Total £2.81

Based on unqualified employee on minimum wage:

Employee's time £0.80

Autoclave bag large £0.16

Wash cycle/load £0.50

Dry cycle/load £0.50

Purifed water £0.60

Total £2.56

I'm not sure how helpful this is to you- but i thought it would be of interest.

best wishes

Amy

Re: Disposable gowns

Emma Bartlett — Tue, 11 May 2010 12:43:48 GMT

I agreeeabout getting the gowns from a human hospital supplier, i use a company called Medline and the rep Maria is lovely and will probably be able to organise you some samples to try before you order

Re: Disposable gowns

Mairead Deasy — Tue, 11 May 2010 12:21:07 GMT

Hi ,

We have recently changed where we are getting our gowns from. As Im in Ireland the companies would be different. I found that we could get the exact same sterile gowns from a human hospital supplier for a much cheaper rate.

We also got a further 10% discount on them as they could offer us a hospital rate.

Mairead

Re: Disposable gowns

Kim Buckley — Tue, 11 May 2010 10:15:05 GMT

Ok this may sound like a stupid question but does anybody know on average how much it costs to wash, package and sterilise a gown? Trying to justify switching to disposable. Thanks!

Re: Disposable gowns

Kim Buckley — Tue, 11 May 2010 07:03:01 GMT

I did have a look on vet direct yesterday but couldn't see any one their website. Will hunt around today and see what I can find.

Re: Disposable gowns

Vicky RVN — Mon, 10 May 2010 21:18:22 GMT

What about Vet Direct? Don't know if they do them but worth a look, we get our consumables from them as they are cheaper.

Re: Disposable gowns

Kim Buckley — Mon, 10 May 2010 21:15:23 GMT

Thanks guys!

Re: Disposable gowns

Nicola Smith — Mon, 10 May 2010 21:10:54 GMT

Get ours from JAK

Re: Disposable gowns

Viking Dog1 — Mon, 10 May 2010 16:24:16 GMT

We get ours from a company called IMS, they send out free samples too so you can try before you buy!

Re: Disposable gowns

Katie Drew — Mon, 10 May 2010 16:15:11 GMT

Direct medical supplies Tel: 01420 520869. They have a website too. We get all ours from there. Not sure what delivery fee they charge. But its free if over £100 I think.