Sterilization Station: A Sterile Processing Empowerment Podcast
Welcome to "Sterile Processing Empowerment Podcast, the podcast dedicated to elevating the field of sterile processing and surgical services! In an industry where precision and care intersect, we believe that knowledge is power. Our mission is to empower, encourage, and motivate every professional engaged in the transformative world of healthcare.
Join us each week as we delve into enlightening discussions that shine a light on best practices, emerging innovations, and the critical role sterile processing plays in patient safety. Whether you're a seasoned expert or just starting your journey, our panels and expert guests will provide invaluable insights through engaging conversations and real-world stories.
From the nuances of instrument handling to the latest in sterilization techniques, we cover it all. Expect thought-provoking interviews, educational segments, and motivating content designed to inspire you to elevate your craft. Together, let’s foster a community that champions excellence in surgical services and celebrates the unsung heroes of healthcare.
Tune in to where expertise meets passion, and every episode empowers you to make a difference in the operating room and beyond.
Sterilization Station: A Sterile Processing Empowerment Podcast
The Instrument Whisperer Mini Series : The Rick Shultz Story
Rick Schultz, known as the Instrument Whisperer, shares his journey from hospital orderly to becoming a legendary educator in surgical instrument care and maintenance. His passion for craftsmanship and patient safety has revolutionized how healthcare professionals approach instrument inspection and quality assurance.
• Started career as a 16-year-old hospital orderly, later becoming an orthopedic technician
• Purchased a small surgical instrument company, investing all personal savings including wedding money
• Learned directly from German instrument makers, including inventors of tungsten carbide needle holders and surgical scissors
• Built an education empire teaching proper instrument inspection and maintenance worldwide
• Introduced the concept of "listening to instruments" - developing tactile sensitivity to detect problems
• Shares shocking stories of patient safety incidents caused by improperly maintained instruments
• Emphasizes the critical relationship between sterile processing and operating room teams
• Warns about industry challenges including knowledge loss as experts retire and misinformation on social media
• Explains differences in instrument quality from various manufacturing locations including Pakistan
• Motivated by ensuring every patient receives care with properly functioning instruments
Join us for our next episode where we'll dive into the foundation of general surgery instruments.
Welcome to the Sterilization Station podcast, where we elevate knowledge and the care of surgical instruments, one specialty at a time. I'm your host, bill Rochelle, and today we're kicking off an exciting new mini-series Instrument Whisperer a surgical service deep dive. In this very first episode, we are joined by Rick Schultz, widely known as the Instrument Whisperer, a legendary educator and sterile processing expert who has dedicated his career to the art and science of surgical instrument care. Rick's story is not just about instruments. It's about craftsmanship, passion and a deep respect for the tools that saves lives every day. So if you ever wonder what it means to truly listen to the instruments or why specialized knowledge matters in every surgical service line, this episode is for you. And so, rick, thank you so much for joining us today and, if you could, maybe you could start to tell us a little bit about your early days in the field and what drew you to surgical instruments.
Speaker 2:Well, I have a limited career opportunity in my life since I was in high school. First real job in high school was working at a hospital in the emergency room as an orderly. You know, I can remember clearly back then, after we had suture a laceration I'm 16 years old they'd tell me, put the instruments in that bath of alcohol back there, and that was where they went when they were all bloody and then at the end of the shift I had to take them to sterile processing. I don't even know what it was called back then, but I'm old and we're talking when I was 16 years old and yeah, so I've always, always been around instruments. And then you know that job, I worked it, you know, as full time as I could in high school. And then after college I got a job at another hospital. They were starting a big orthopedic department and they needed an orthopedic technician and they hired a guy to train me and this guy was in a podiatric school but I worked with him probably three days a week learning orthotics and all. I mean he was a wizard, and so that job just grew unbelievable. And you know, from putting on casts to working up in the operating room, to doing procedures in what we call our cast room, with general anesthetic and local, and absolutely loved that job. Incredibly, it was so much fun. I was at the call of five orthopedic surgeons that I became friends with and it really was an outstanding job. I was on call seven days a week, 365 days a year and I loved it so working at that hospital.
Speaker 2:Now that other guy went away away, my trainer, and it was just me doing everything and I had all the reps sales reps calling on me and um, you know, every day, you know, to sell me cast material, fracture tables, implants, and I I would say, um that of all those reps, there was one rep that was better than all the others and to this day I am still friends with him. He is not in the best of health but he's hanging in there and we have coffee maybe every couple months. But he was inspirational for me because this guy taught me what service is all about. I could call any. He was the Zimmer rep and my gosh, he flew me in their private plane to Warsaw, indiana, to tour the factory and we just it was just an outstanding business relationship.
Speaker 2:And, um, I started thinking more and more about sales and then I saw an opportunity and I talked to him about it. I said I want to get into sales and I told him about he knew the company and I went to work. I interviewed, got the job and it was selling health care equipment, dme hospital beds and wheelchairs, commodes, infant monitors, and from that point you know, I really loved it. But there was a big flaw at this company big, big flaw the owner. He enjoyed firing people and the first week I'm there these young kids were coming up to me saying how long do you think you're going to last in this job? And it's unbelievable. And then I started seeing that this really is a serious issue. I did the job for a year and a half and then I really loved it, did a lot with infant monitoring, with sudden infant death syndrome, and did a lot with ostomy supplies along with durable medical equipment. Well, that job ended.
Speaker 2:And then it's a great story the day I got fired, bill, I will just tell you, every day you had to wear a suit. The guy called me in the office to he he just said give me my credit cards, give me the car keys, you're done. And I said what I do, he goes, you're done. I gave him the credit cards, gave him the keys to the company car, headed out the door bill. It was a driving rainstorm and I'm in a three-piece suit. So what do you do? You just walk. I just walked down the street it was in a city and went to. I came across a bar that I would occasionally frequent and walked in there like a drowned rat and they gave me a towel to dry off and put a quarter or a dime in the payphone back then and called a friend of mine to come get me. And so I was on a job with no car. That is a tough way to go. Look for another job.
Speaker 2:Well, in the meantime, a couple of weeks go by and I got a job with the competitor and did that job for several years and then the career just jumped up to a high level. A company out of Columbus knew me from the home health care business and recruited me to move to Columbus as the vice president. And I mean, I'm just, I'm just a sales guy and I took the job and moved to Columbus, loved this job, man, it was unbelievable. They just said do what you do, but we want to grow the company. And I grew it and opened offices throughout Ohio and it really was a great experience. Well, that's when this light bulb goes off about owning my own company.
Speaker 2:I discovered a very, very tiny company for sale, a 10 by 10 office. That was the headquarters of this company. It had one window, two desks and that was it. And I remember meeting with that guy and I said where's the rest of the company? He goes everything's right here in this 10 by 10 office. So from that point we worked things out and it was a surgical instrument company and he wanted to sell diet drops. And he said Rick, this surgical instrument business is a $5 poker table. I want to go to a $25 poker table, known as diet drops Bigger, bigger opportunity to make money selling diet drops. And so basically I signed the paperwork and this is a staggering thing.
Speaker 2:I got married at that time and literally Bill every penny my wife and I had went into this guy. I actually went to an ATM before signing the documents and we emptied out our accounts and handed cash, all our wedding money. We just got married. I sold my little sailboat. This was a true deal where you were all in Mm-hmm and now, looking back, it was totally. I didn't have money at all, my wife did not of his business.
Speaker 2:So you know, we'd get an order for 5,000 sharp, blunt scissors and ship them to this company in New Jersey and they would put them in their sterile kits. Well, right away I knew it was either eat or be eaten and I just simply started at that point in time, working seven days a week, every day, I mean, there was. I had no choice. I had to survive. I had to put money on the table and you know, one of the things I did is just, I made sales calls all day and then I drive back to the office and play back the answering machine, open the mail and see if I got orders. They're on the answering machine. Hospitals would call. I'd call them back and I'd get an order for instruments. And we were ordering instruments direct out of Germany, that town, tötlingen, and I got to know these manufacturers and it just slowly, slowly started to grow boy. I'll never forget my first trip to germany to meet the instrument makers that make the instruments of everybody.
Speaker 1:Listening to this podcast when I, when I used to talk to people I go.
Speaker 2:I know who invented. When I used to talk to people I'd go. I know who invented tungsten carbide needle holders. I've slept at his house. I mean, he had the patent, the design, a term, widia, and it was such a great time. And then to meet the man that invented tungsten carbide scissors and he was very, very old, he was third generation in the company but he still came in and you know the black handled scissors. I twice a year had dinner with the inventor of that and I would spend weeks at these factories watching their production, learning. And you know I got a testimonial from one of the manufacturers that I put in my book and it said that I was the only American that would come over there and was interested in the quality process of surgical instruments and that was a key point, that that scissor maker that I was talking about, that the grandfather figured out tungsten carbide in scissors. I remember being at his factory for the first time and I asked the question how do you know these scissors are sharp, they go, just wait, we'll get to it at the end of this production line.
Speaker 2:And it was a very, very famous picture of mine from all the lectures I did all over the world of a lady sitting at a big wooden table with trays of scissors. She had on a blue apron a bottle of beer and her hands testing with that red scissor test material. And I said that can't be it, you've got to have a scanner or a device. They go no, her hands, that test material. And the thing that everybody was amazed I it out and she was drinking a beer. And where the town was Fridich in, I think it might have been that in the southern part of Germany and that slide, everybody died laughing. People would come up to me you're the guy that talks about the lady that drinks the beer and tests the scissors. Well, that really locked on into my head. I really understood how they test their instruments, the hemostats, the ENT instruments. And every time I went to Germany I would go get another tour and relationship with another manufacturer, with another manufacturer, and that was the backbone where I got a master's degree on surgical instruments Right.
Speaker 1:That's where your love for craftsmanship for instruments was developed when going to these factories.
Speaker 2:Yeah, see how they're virtually making them by hand. They were not stamping them out. I did see robotics later on, but mostly it was all hand-finished, hand-grinding. And then here I'm in. I live in Ohio, cleveland area, and I was at a hospital the west side of Cleveland and I was in sterile processing talking to the staff and they go. Did you ever think of putting together an instrument quality course of inspection and testing? I said no, they go. You really should because we badly need it. Well, from that point, bill, I went back and thought about what they said. And just so you know, this is before computers, before Google, cell phones. It was before all that.
Speaker 2:And I had a business coach that I bounced this idea off of and I told him I don't want to teach anybody. He goes. Why I go? Because the competitor will hear and steal my ideas. And he looks at me, he goes. Do you know Jack Nicklaus gives golf lessons? I go. No, he goes. Oh yeah, you pay dearly but Jack Nicklaus, for 10 grand, will give you golf lessons. Do you think Jack Nicklaus is worried about somebody? Learning from him is gonna beat him.
Speaker 2:And that statement was it. I said you're right. It's what's in my heart and in my brain that makes me different than everybody else. And I put together curriculum with, you know, going back to Isham, I got CE credits for it and the company went small, very, very small to very big on one principle educating the customer. And I lectured all over the world. You know Japan, canada, south America, all over Europe and damn near every state in this country. You know I often say, you know, the reason I never said no was my passion. You know I never said no to a speak engagement. You know I flew to Oklahoma and there was nine people there. Things were, you know, I just never, ever said no and traveled the world doing education.
Speaker 1:And.
Speaker 2:I incorporated all my slides from Germany with photo shoots I would do, and that became a monster, meaning every 10 days I was somewhere doing education and it became, you know. That is the reason I'm the only two-time Educator of the Year. Isham and American Hospital, two years apart, picked me as Educator of the Year and you know it's the thousands of people that I taught and the goal of that education was entertainment. I had to make them laugh and gave them simple education. You know, you and I know there's educators out there that go and talk and they use $10 words and they don't even know what they mean. Their slides are terrible. They talk over the audience head. I never did and that's why I connected with sterile processing and the operating room and then a place a lot of people don't know that I moved mountains in was veterinary medicine.
Speaker 1:Right, right, yeah, absolutely. I think you have a book for that, correct?
Speaker 2:Yeah, and the sweet lady. She's passed away, but I remember her telling me you know, do you sell vet instruments? I go, no, I sell hospital instruments. She goes, no, you don't. Those same instruments are used in veterinary medicine. And I said, geraldine, you're wrong, my instruments are only for human. And she goes, if I set up a meeting with you and a vet, would you go there and quote him some instruments? Well, she set up this meeting.
Speaker 2:I went to Euclid, ohio, and met with a guy. He had a quote from a company many of you may know, miltex Instruments. Miltex, just, they're the number one player in veterinary medicine. And he had this list and he said can you quote all this stuff? I said sure, went back to my office, wrote it up, I mailed it to him this was before fax machines, computers.
Speaker 2:And the guy calls me and he said you're half the price of Mil-Tex. I said I know, because my products come out of Germany, like Miltex come to me, they go to you With Miltex. They come out of Germany, they go to Miltex, to a distributor, then to you. So you're paying an extra 40% or more. So that launched our veterinary division, that we became very, very close to the number one market share, but I always say number two market share. And, bill, I would do lectures at the major vet conferences with 15 to 1,800 people that had never heard to sterilize an instrument with the ratchets unclicked or how to test the sharpness, or the thing that was going on at that time. If the scissor was dull they would throw it away and buy a new one.
Speaker 1:They didn't know they could be redone no, that's actually really good, because that's really a good segue into this question, which is you often talk about listening to the instruments, right. So you have this dull scissor right, and the scissor no doubt could be speaking up and saying, hey, is anyone gonna give me a break and sharpen me? So could you explain what that means and how it guides your work?
Speaker 2:yeah, listening to the instruments, yeah well, as I was taught by the master instrument makers, the scissor makers. They used to say a scissor will sing and you hold it up to your ear and open and close it and you will hear it sing. I didn't quite hear music or vocals, but I kind of understood the concept and you know that is where, to this day, when I do education, the feel of the scissor is absolutely everything. I can QA scissors without that test material, by simply opening and closing them, and that's what's missing in the industry. They pick up a scissor, get it into the tray. You don't do that. You pick up the scissor, hold it properly and open and close it.
Speaker 2:My terminology is take the scissor for a walk, open and close it, and from that is how you will find is it loose, is it tight, does it have a burr, does it grind? And so the listening to a scissor is so important. Hemostats, the ratchet, can be a problem. What happens is they clamp and torque and when you torque you bend the shanks. Well, once again, you pick up a hemostat, take it for a walk. One click, two click, three clicks, four. It should just be boom, boom, boom, boom. But if you feel it jumping, stop right there, Put it in the repair box and get another instrument from the instrument board.
Speaker 1:That's really good. So how does the care and maintenance of instruments impact patient safety? Could you share some examples?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's really in my lectures, you know, when I'm talking about tissue forceps T for tissue, t for teeth. So it's not a rat tooth, it's an acid tissue forcep.
Speaker 1:Come on now, tell them.
Speaker 2:And the thing about that is real simple. You pick up a tissue, forcep, make sure the teeth are there, and then I show slides of forceps missing the teeth in a sterile tray.
Speaker 1:Where does the?
Speaker 2:surgeon think that tooth is when he goes to grab and it slides Exactly, he's thinking about his liability insurance that the tooth's inside. So they got to go in and look for it, delaying the case, more exposure to anesthesia. And if the sterile processing personnel only properly inspected the instruments, there'd be no risk to the patient. And about halfway through my company's life we adopted a tagline we make patients safer because we teach how to inspect instruments, missing teeth. Another classic one is it was a lawsuit and I never named the hospital, never named it. You know totally, totally out of it.
Speaker 2:They used a worn out needle holder and the surgeon clamped proximal with the needle. He moved the needle from the tip to the middle of the jaw, clamped down and he popped the insert out. Insert went into the patient. They didn't know it. It was a shoulder surgery of some sort and they closed. Everything went fine, the patient rehabbed, everything went well till she slipped on a wet floor at a grocery store. They took her to the emergency room, x-rayed her shoulder and they say well, we don't see any fractures. However, your surgeon's coming in to talk to you. They found the tungsten carbide insert in her shoulder. And that's one example.
Speaker 2:And in my slide deck. I have pictures of it and a classic thing about this the sterile processing manager at this hospital. I went to see him. I had the hospital lawyer with me and the director of purchasing and he knew it was a big to-do situation and I said well, we're here to talk to you about a needle holder, and have you ever seen a needle holder where the jaws fall out? He goes that's funny. You say that Over here in the drawer I have one.
Speaker 2:He got up, brought the needle holder into our meeting in his office. They had they already removed the tungsten chiropractic insert. They laid it next to it. It was that needle hold. It was a smoking gun. That insert was in is from that needle holder. And Bill, this process sterile processing manager. He goes I didn't know they could be rejawed. This sterile processing manager, he goes I didn't know they could be rejawed. So you're talking about very little knowledge For sure. Yeah, and you know we right away scheduled surgery and sterile processing instrument education for three months to teach them to prevent this from happening.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's really good. Yeah, I know what the um, the corneal forceps, the 0.12. A lot of times when we're inspecting them or when I'm precepting students or new employees is to even pull that magnifying glass off to see, because you can barely see if the teeth are still on it. But when you get down there in that magnifying glass you say, oh my, my goodness, this doesn't have any teeth, it's missing a tooth, right yes, yeah, uh, those corneal forceps.
Speaker 2:I always tell my audience you can't get away with anything with micro or ophthalmology instruments and they always look at why I go. Your work is being inspected by a microscope.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the whole surgery is under a microscope. It's under a microscope. Yeah, the whole surgery is under a microscope.
Speaker 2:It's under a microscope. You know, there's another instrument that if you sent me 10 of them, I would bet two of them would be missing their carbide inserts, and that is the Potsmith forcep. It's seven inches, kind of a fine tip, and they have tiny tungsten carbide inserts on the tip and that's to grab the needle. Suture grab, suture grab. Those things are always missing and one of the things I started in my repair company was all our every repair technician. I provided them with these cameras that could zoom in and show a cracked tungsten carbide insert, a missing tooth. We documented everything we found. Nowadays, these repair vendors, they are just not trained like they should be, and that could be a whole different podcast about. You know the sins of the repair industry because, my goodness, they send people to your hospital with two weeks on the job. They're going to train and learn how to sharpen osteotomes on your osteotomes.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, hold that one, cause we're going to have a whole episode just on sharpening and even how to audit your sharpening company to know if they're even doing I would.
Speaker 1:I have some booby trap, so hold on hold that we're that, that we're gonna save that one because that's that's gonna be a great uh, a great episode. Even how to? How do you assess a future vendor instrument sharpening company? There's some great resources in, uh, mr schultz's book. I'm not gonna, I'm just telling youz's book. I'm not going to tell you this, we're going to get to this. But quick question is why do you believe that every surgical service line needs specialized knowledge about these instruments and how do you approach educating SPD on these nuances?
Speaker 2:Well, every surgery that uses instrumentation and the first misnomer in the entire industry is stain less steel. Wrong, it's stain more steel. So the man that invented it was a liar Stainless steel stains. And what happens in the operating room? Nurses right away blame sterile processing and it is a 50-50 deal between sterile processing and surgery and I've been to hospitals where they are on the same page. All surgical services have to know how to QA instruments, how to test them and how to properly communicate. If they misbehave in a surgery, how do you tag it?
Speaker 2:I actually 20 minutes from my house, a large, large teaching hospital and in the region they did more C-sections than anybody sections than anybody. They had the chief of OB. Whenever he came across a dull scissor he stuck it in the edge of the table and bent it and he used to say it'll never come back to me. Then, when he I just it just entered my brain the guy's name, which I won't say when he left, his locker was filled with scissors that he bent and dull scissors and worn out needle holders. This guy was a monster. He cost the hospital so much money and the CS manager asked me to meet with him and I did. I really didn't have a dog in the fight. I just came to simply say let me teach you about needle holders and let me tell you we sharpen your scissors If they're dull. We could put an edge on them that you could shave with Really. And this guy just he didn't know it and we were servicing I think they had 25 C-section sets. I think they had 25 C-section sets. We would service all 25 sets every other month just to keep this guy happy.
Speaker 2:So it doesn't matter the specialty, the operating room has got to be on the same page as sterile processing and sterile processing has got to be on the same page as the operating room. A lot of times. I might jump ahead here a little bit. The account sheet calls for a cryo. Yeah, I'll put a Kelly in there. There's a distinct difference. Yeah, sterile pressing. You got to know the names. You know, and that's why you know I made those coaching cards. You got to know the names.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's good, that's really good. And they got some new technologies coming out now. I know LayerJot. It's created a technology with AI where you can actually take a picture of the part number on the instrument and it will pull it right up, which is a great tool for, like, students that are externing or even employees, new employees getting onboarded. But if you don't have that part number, we actually just precepted a student her first day in the department. About halfway through the day, I introduced her to the manuals that are in the cabinet. I actually showed her your book and your flashcards and she was blown away by your flashcards and so I was saying these are resources here. So when you get stuck, what do you do? And she said get the here. So when you get stuck, what do you do? And she said get the manual. I said that's right.
Speaker 2:That's right, so what? I just want to add one thing to what you just said yeah, absolutely, You're right, Absolutely. The part number that's etched on the instrument is so important. But in an upcoming episode you will learn that you have repair vendors buffing off catalog numbers because they don't know a thing about the industry.
Speaker 1:That is the truth, though I was looking for one today and I was like I was trying to show the students you watch the part numbers right here. I'm like, oh, it was there.
Speaker 2:It was there and that is the process of refurbishment high speed buffing and that takes off etching yeah yeah, no, that's I.
Speaker 1:We found an instrument and I was showing the student it was uh, this instrument was older than me times double and it had on there. It said it said what the doctor liked to call it was etched in the instrument and it said uh, uh, 64, like it was 1964 when they edged it. Yeah, oh, yeah, I couldn't believe it. I was like man. I actually created a social media post on LinkedIn. I said look it. I didn't know where it ought to go.
Speaker 2:Well, it's so true.
Speaker 1:I've seen like little love letters on instruments I heart doctor, I'm like what in the world?
Speaker 2:is going on. Yeah, those electric engraving devices. They would put the doctor's name on it or the nickname.
Speaker 1:That's great, that's one of the weaknesses of the industry not mandating instrument names.
Speaker 2:And I mean there's 4,500 different instruments. You need to know 100 of them. Maybe I've never counted them, but there's six scissors. You got to know a hundred of them. Maybe I've never counted them, but you know there's six scissors you got to know. You know maybe 10. You know 10 hemostatic instruments and so forth and retractors, but they just don't know it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, I think it's. Yeah, it's definitely upon the organizations to put together a very thorough onboarding program for them, an educational program for them and educational program for them. And just taking time, you know, like when I would assemble instruments and I was new and they would say, which station do you want to pick? I would always pick the station next to the person that I knew knew the most instruments. So when I didn't know what it was, I could say what's this called again? Oh, that's called this. So they said why do you always like to sit next to Rachel? I said because Rachel Lee knows her instruments. Yeah, but that's right.
Speaker 2:In that scenario, bill, I've spent a lifetime in sterile processing and there's certain technicians that only do the easy stuff they don't want to do. A cardiac set, a neuro set, you just can't do that. Everybody's got to know these instruments and these trays.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think that's a really good point. I know when I first my first processing job, I was hired on the night shift and I was doing a month on days, a month on PMs and I would always, once I did a tray a few times, I would always grab a new tray. And so one of the employees it says how come you don't do the minor tray or the minor plastic tray? It's real easy. And I said because I'm going to nights and there might not be anyone there to answer my question. So I was learning those instruments. But to kind of wrap up this first episode just real quick what keeps you motivated every day to continue to be the instrument whisperer?
Speaker 2:The industry is getting worse and I am fighting an uphill battle because people that have all the knowledge are leaving the industry, and I often say in all my lectures what I'm teaching you is important, because one day it's going to be your wife, your grandma, your grandchild that these instruments are going to be used on, and I'll never forget. I had to have surgery. It was a little bit serious and I was going to have it at the Cleveland Clinic and my most knowledgeable sales executive said hey, listen, do you want me to go down there and make sure your tray's put together right? And I said absolutely not. I've trained those people down there and I have confidence in them. And it is what it is. I go to church and the thing about it is that tells you what the industry's all about. Well, let me go take care of your tray, make sure it's perfect. And so that's what really motivates me is the comments I get.
Speaker 2:Just off screen. Here's my conference room table. There's a couple instrument, surgical, technologist instrument books. Bill, there are errors within the first six pages of the book and I called the author and Suzanne today asked me she goes, are you going to finish that project? I said I will. I called her and I said you got errors in your book. So fixing the industry is motivation. And the last thing I will say, bill, social media is just. I can't. I've tried to coach I do coach some good ones. I've tried to coach some other ones. They don't want to listen to me on social media about a name of an instrument.
Speaker 2:What is this on this? How did this instrument rust? A word on Pakistan instruments. I had a had a couple years ago. A guy came out about circumcision clamps. My god, was he off base? He was so off base. I tracked him down and said I've worked with ecri on this issue of circumcision clamps.
Speaker 2:We used to sell the largest amount of Mogan and Gomco CERC clamps and then, lo and behold, disposable clamps came into the market and this guy came out with some ridiculous statement and I got hold of him, took him to school and absolutely you know that's my motivation. Just last week there was something posted that would make hospitals say, oh my God, we got to get rid of this item. I tracked down, the guy, told him what page in my book and today is today, monday, yeah, sunday night he did a repost clarifying what he said. So he's a good student. He learns from me. So my motivation is to make the world better as it comes to surgical instruments. They just aren't learning them. They're in a hurry. They don't like their boss, they don't like their job, they don't like their husband, they don't like their wife. It's just all this anger and they just think, well, just put it in the tray and sterilize it. So wrong yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, that's good. I'm glad you actually did that. I have a real quick question before we close out is because I noticed it recently. I noticed a Pakistan instrument that had an actual part number on it. Now I usually we pick them up and then we have a special bin we dispose of them, the single use ones. Now is there such thing as a pakistan reusable surgical instrument now?
Speaker 2:okay, hundred percent. What differentiates the quality of pakistan instruments is the integrity and quality of the stainless steel. You use cheap stainless steel and look at your price point If you're paying. There was a guy in the veterinary market used to sell three instruments for five bucks. I used to tell all the customers you're getting ripped off. You should get five for five bucks. You're getting ripped off.
Speaker 2:So I mentioned earlier that the company I highly respect, a company called Miltex, they have a line of Pakistan instruments called Vantage. Those things were so good I would put them up against some German instrumentation and I used to do testing and it tested just perfect. But it was made in Pakistan. They used very good steel with high chromium content in the steel and that thing was they were great and very, very high polished finish like a Codman instrument. So yeah, to answer your question, as you're learning, I'm very long-winded on subjects. I just have so much knowledge in this head. But there are definitely reusable stand-made instruments and right behind my desk here is an instrument from Cardinal, a Carefusion. It has a part number only and then let's see where's it say right there, made in pakistan. Wow, but bill, they don't put it on the instrument. This, this side says stainless, so yeah, there we got a lot of subjects to hit, but re yeah, it's gonna just peck sentence, circumcision clamps and that industry of surgical instrument repair is just a monster of problems.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, that's great. No, and Rick, we do want to thank you here at Sterilization Station, you know, for sharing your incredible journey tonight and your insights. You know your passion for the craft and your dedication for patient safety. You know it inspires me, it inspires everyone. You know it inspires me, it inspires everyone. So, for everyone listening, remember every surgical success is a story of care, knowledge and respect for the instruments that make it possible. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe to the Sterilization Station podcast. And please, we're only getting started. Me and Rick are just starting this very mini-series. We plan on covering all the different services of instruments. In the next episode, episode two, we'll be going over the foundation of general surgery instruments. So we're going to dive into the essential instruments that form the backbone of so many surgical procedures. So you won't want to miss this. So, rick, once again, we really appreciate you for coming on today and stay tuned to everyone. He, he, he, he whispered tonight and there's more whispers to come, so please stay tuned.
Speaker 1:All right, all right, all right. This is great, thank you.
