We met up with Greg from Vernacare, who kindly answered a few questions about the single use instrument brand Instrapac.
What material are most of the Instrapac instruments made from?
The majority of instrapac single use instruments are manufactured from stainless steel of a grade suitable for these medical instruments.
Can Instrapac instruments be used again for the same patient?
Single use medical devices must only be used for the one procedure. Instrapac instruments carry the following warning statement in the IFU; Instrapac® single use instruments are designed to be single use devices and MUST NOT BE REUSED NOR REPROCESSED under any circumstance, as this practice would be associated with the following attendant risks:
- Re-Use: as with all types of surgical instruments, there is a significant risk of onward transmission of infection, including spongiform encephalopathies, should they be reused.
- Re-Processing: Single use instruments are not designed, nor manufactured to facilitate re-processing, and should this occur, their fitness for purpose will be severely compromised, with significant attendant clinical risk to both patients and operators.
Are single use devices durable?
Instrapac single use instruments and devices are manufactured to provide effective function and usability for the single procedure for which they are intended. It is not necessary for them to withstand multiple decontamination, maintenance and re-sterilisation cycles so long term durability is less of an issue. That said it is important the instruments are able to perform the single procedure and indeed being unused with no wear from prior use, single use devices will be new, sharp where required and therefore in optimal condition, ready at the point of use.
How do I safely dispose of them?
Single use instruments and devices should be disposed of in the appropriate clinical waste stream, for most instruments this will usually mean placing them into the appropriate sharps waste container.
What are the benefits of using Instrapac single use instruments over reuseable ones?
• Save Money – Can provide cost savings when compared to the re-usable option when considering all the key cost elements, e.g. decontamination availability and cost.
• Save Time and improve efficiency - Eliminate checking instruments for wear and tear. No waiting for instrument collection or delivery. Increased patient contact time.
• Improved infection control (reduced cross infection risk) - New and unused sterile instruments. Minimising the risk and cost of surgical site infections (SSI’s)
• Regulatory compliance - Instrapac® products comply with relevant medical device legislation and independently audited and certified to relevant standards.
• Ethical and environmental best practice - Vernacare is committed to environmentally friendly processes and ethical trading, holding certification to BS EN 14001:2004 and NHS LSAS Level 4 (highest Level) and ILO accreditation, independently audited in compliance with the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) Base Code. Vernacare are actively reducing their carbon emissions, not offsetting, actually reducing our carbon footprint.
View Instrapac Single use instruments