A band aid to the rescue

Sometimes your organization can be in such disarray that you need major surgery to fix it. Other times, a band aid is all you need. Recently, I applied a band aid to my own practice. I purchased a cart.

The cart is stainless steel, has 3 shelves, and sits on 4 wheels. It is approximately 24 inches wide by 36 inches long, and 36 inches high. I keep my portable sono unit on the top shelf and I keep the various probes on the middle shelf. On the bottom shelf I keep the phlebotomy kit, fully stocked, and the power cord for the sono unit.

I do a lot of scrotal sonograms for male infertility in addition to performing pelvic/bladder sonograms for post-void residual urine assessment. Often I have to change probes several times per day, or I need to re-charge the portable battery on the unit at random times. Because evrything sits on the cart, I can do these chores quickly and effortlessly "on the fly."

When I have a vasectomy, I place the sono unit on the middle shelf, then drape the entire cart in a sterile drape. I then place the vasectomy instruments on the spacious top shelf. I usually begin my vasectomies on the patient's left side, then I move on to their right side. I just wheel the cart along with me.

Within arms length of the cart, on the right side, is the counter top. On the counter top I leave open the paper wrap from the sterile gloves. As I use up the sharps, I place them on the paper wrap to my right side. At the end of the vasectomy, all that remains on the cart is non-sharp garbage, the soiled vas instruments, and the vasa themselves. Within 1 minute after completing the vasectomy, I can have the used instruments in the sink, the vasa in the specimen bottle, the sharps in the sharps container, and the remaining waste--wrapped in the sterile drape--in the garbage can. Voila! Done.

No wasted motion. Efficiency. And as far as a vasectomy can be, a thing of beauty.

And all because I purchased a cart with wheels.

Thanks,

The IU.