Thanksgiving is a Holiday of Sharing
Every Thanksgiving, Case Medical has a pre-Thanksgiving meal. In most years it was potluck, where each of us brought in our favorite recipes to share with our colleagues. We have a culturally diverse population so many of the meals selected are from family recipes from all over the world. Thanksgiving food is important because it is a central part of the holiday's traditions, while also providing a way to connect with friends and through shared food preparation and feasting. On Thanksgiving, the meals are deeply rooted in history, from the first harvest feast with Native Americans and Pilgrims, whether it was turkey or venison has been replaced with more modern traditions, even vegetarian. In any event, Thanksgiving is a way for people to celebrate abundance in today's society. At Case Medical, before the pandemic and for a year or two after, we each brought in a favorite dish to share that was typically passed down through the generations. This year, folks are getting sick again with flu and other respiratory diseases, so we were careful and once again had boxed lunches from Panera.
A Recipe Over Generations
Given the Holiday season, and our desire to support you our colleagues, I have a favorite recipe that has been passed down for generations. In my family, it is our apple pie recipe. Each of my cousins claims that their mother, or Grandmother, created the recipe. I know for a fact, from my Mother, who was very transparent and humble, that all the Aunties found the same recipe from Burl Ives, known for his folk songs, and better known in our family for creating the apple pie recipe that was passed down from great grandma to my grandchildren. The problem was, that over time, the recipe recorded by hand on paper and handled over many decades, was almost unreadable. Luckily, I have a pretty good memory and given a previous course in linguistics during my college years, I was able to reconstruct it and digitize it. I will share it with you, Happy Thanksgiving, Click here.
In SPD, We Use Recipes Everyday
Count sheets, preference cards and IFUs are also recipes that folks in sterile processing need to perform their tasks. Like a bill of materials, a count sheet is a recipe for putting sets together, identifying the quantity of each, and providing instructions in a specific order for specific reprocessing procedures. Whether it's a count sheet or a pick list, these systems work best when they are digitized. Nevertheless, many are still on paper, on a post-it, index cards, or taped to a container, placed in a paper bag, or even a peel pack despite that being disallowed. Have you found the ideal way yet to affix these printed recipes to a system without ink smearing or without tape which Joint Commission is currently citing as a no-go? With a robust digital system, should The Joint Commission ever come to town to conduct an audit, you will be ready if you have digitized the contents and stored them in the cloud.
Easy Access to Information Is Available
Case Medical provides a UDI affixed on our container that links directly to the IFU which is our recipe and includes all the reprocessing instructions, claims, care and handling steps, and even a unique identifier to track the individual container throughout the facility and even externally to reprocessing centers. My Apple Pie recipe is recorded for posterity in our software, and your favorite SOP and work instructions can be found with a simple scan using CaseTrak360. Scan the barcode on the container and, in 2026, on the tray and you’ll have your recipe for successful outcomes without paper, adhesive labels, and guesswork for your specific procedure tray and instrumentation.
