I am also wondering why we are not trying to sterilize N95 masks? Instead of throwing away after each patient encounter can we throw away the mask at the end of the shift? can we spray some disenfectant on the mask after each encounter? Or maybe UV light exposure for a few seconds? Would this help the shortage?
My prospective is there is over the top better be safe than sorry when it comes to medical and the standard depends on who is inspecting.
Mentioned before our former military docs would just shake their collective heads on tossing out supplies solely because of a printed expiration date on the box where the exact same product sold to the military is sold without expiration date.
Of course the answer is liability...
The State of California had to get approval before it's warehouse of masks could be used as the stockpile of medical masks had expired.
I battled for a long time the expiration dates on cylinders of Oxygen and after years they no longer have expiration... not because of me but because Oxygen is Oxygen.
For most items proper storage is the key and not an arbitrary date printed on the box... the exceptions are generally compounds/meds.
Another concession this week... industrial masks made at the same factory as medical masks can now be used in medical settings simply by the stroke of a pen granting a waiver...
Anything medical costs more... follow the money.
At last week's meeting about strategic resources I mentioned I still have 2 old anesthesia machines that are fully functional and was told to scrap... which made everyone happy because they have ventilators... not in the fully automatic patient room style but still perform the same during surgery.
Seen a lot of changes in healthcare over the years and the biggest by far is single use disposable... everything from small vials of injectables instead of larger bottles to surgical instruments... the thought being disposable removes the human element because everything is single use opposed to reprocessing via sterilization and packaging... on a side note they sterile items are often made and packaged in China and then transported across the ocean... to my simple thinking many more hands to go through along the way to my hospital.
We reprocessed much more in the past than today... anyone that doubts this just needs to compare Hospital waste streams then and now.
