Outfitting Your New Office (Part III)
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| Lab Coat |
Your office is nearly ready to open! The waiting room, front desk, offices, exam rooms, and lab are furnished and equipped with diagnostic and other necessary tools. The last category of materials needed to get the office running is medical supplies – disposables, lab supplies, cleaning agents, and apparel.
Medical Supplies
Whether you are a new doctor, just opening your own practice, or a veteran doctor in need of new supplies, we are here to guide you through the process. The first thing you might do when you enter your practice is don a lab coat, the professional medical uniform for the past 100 years. The basic white coat worn by doctors comes in many styles, lengths and materials. Make sure you pick one that fits you comfortably and washes well. Some great features you can find are antistatic and fluid resistant lab coats. If working in a lab you might choose a coat that will protect you against accidental spills, long sleeves and absorbent materials would work best.
Gloves
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| Exam Gloves |
When meeting with a patient medical gloves are one of the first things applied when performing a physical assessment. Medical gloves are disposable and used during many medical procedures. Protect yourself and your patients by donning gloves; they are created to help prevent contamination between caregivers like you and your patients. Gloves should be worn when your hands may touch body fluids such as blood, secretions, urine, or when dealing with hazardous drugs. Some great features to look out for when choosing gloves for your office are superior strength, leak resistant gloves, tear resistant gloves, and gloves designed for sensitive skin. Always make sure your gloves fit properly for you to wear them comfortably during all patient care activities. There are three primary materials from which medical gloves are made, natural rubber latex (NRL), acrylonitrile-butadiene (nitrile), and polyvinyl chloride (vinyl, PVC). Some patients are allergic to latex gloves, and therefore before using latex gloves ask about any allergies. Convenient glove dispensers keep gloves within arm's reach at all times. As a professional, make sure to wash your hands before putting on sterile gloves and remember to never reuse or share gloves with others!
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| Tongue Depressor |
Swabs and applicators are an essential part of any patient physical exam. There are a variety of types used for different procedures. Cotton tipped applicators, tongue depressors, cervical scrapers, wooden applicators and spoons are some of the basic ones you will need in your office. Cotton tips are highly absorbent making them ideal to use for wound cleansing, applications of medication, and many other medical uses. Tongue depressors are needed to allow for examination of the mouth and throat. Today the most common modern tongue depressors have thin wooden blades, smoothed and rounded at both ends available in sterile and non-sterile. For a more specific exam a cervical scraper may be needed, the Dynarex cervical scrapers are naturally biodegradable and are designed to be the perfect length and size to reach tender cervical tissue. Always be sure to choose cervical scrapers that are finely polished and will not scrape or cause discomfort to your patient. Medical grade wood applicators and spoons are great for gathering specimens, specimen transfers, applying and mixing medicine, and laboratory applications.
Wound Care
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| Adhesive Bandages |
The physician’s office does its share of wound care and other similar procedures. Therefore having a full stock of all kinds of bandages, gauze and ointments should be a priority. It is so important for you to have the right supply at the right time. Today you can find bandages in a wide range of types, from generic cloth strips, to specialized shaped bandages designed for a specific limb or part of the body. There are different uses for fabric, plastic and camo fabric bandages. Gauze has many medical uses including cleaning and prepping wounds, wrapping wounds, halting bleeding, and to pad wounds before they are bandaged. Gauze is available in sterile or non-sterile for all medical situations. Ointments are often applied under the bandage or gauze to help prevent infection in minor wounds, burns or scrapes, inhibit bacterial growth and speed the healing process, your main goal!
Table Paper
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| Exam Table Paper |
Making sure your patients are comfortable is a physician’s top goal. Table paper is used under the patient during any kind of physical exam to protect the exam table from dirt and moisture while offering comfort and protection for your patient. There are many options of high quality, professional and affordable paper rolls. Choose table paper that is strong and absorbent – either crèpe paper or smooth paper. The crepe paper is quieter and softer and can prevent the paper from sliding on the table. Many rolls are mechanically metered for exact length and come in sizes 18” through 30” wide. Smaller widths are better for pediatric patients and wider widths are for adult care. You can easily figure out how much exam paper to order each month by doing a simple calculation. Measure your exam table’s length and multiply that by the average number of patients seen in one month. Now divide that measurement by the length of a roll to get the number of rolls you will need. For your convenience, many rolls are packaged individually for cleanliness during storage.
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Infection Control
Every year many lives are lost due to the spread of infection. Infection control is an important part of any health care delivery. Some important supplies to have on hand to prevent infections in your practice are hand hygiene supplies, sharps containers, protective gear, sterilizers and cleaners. Your office can practice good infection control by simply implementing good hand hygiene using protective equipment, or by using high-level disinfection of surgical instruments. Enforcing these measures can prevent transmission of disease in your health care setting and the community.
Hand hygiene is the most basic yet most important intervention for preventing infection. Proper hand hygiene requires good antibacterial soap or hand sanitizers. Remember, doctors should practice hand hygiene at key points like before patient care; after contact with body fluids, blood, or contaminated surfaces, before invasive procedures; and after removing gloves. This will disrupt the transmission of microorganisms to patients therefore preventing infection.
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| Sani-Cloth HB |
Cleaners such as Sani-Cloth HB disposable germicidal wipes and others like it can be used to kill viruses that are on non-porous hard surfaces in just one wipe. The Sani-Cloth HB is the first wipe to kill Hepatitis B and is effective against hundreds of other microorganisms, killing them is 10 minutes or less. Cleaners are available in easy to use pop-up tubs that do not require any mixing or measuring. These cleaners are a great alternative to the hazardous airborne sprays. Make sure to choose a wipe that kills viruses and is bactericidal and fungicidal.
All equipment should be sterilized using an autoclave or sterilizer like the Ritter M11 UltraClave. The M11 has a unique 11” x 18” chamber making it one of the largest sterilizing capacities of any standard countertop sterilizer on the market. With the increase in infectious organisms, there is a greater need for efficient and effective sterilization of instruments in your practice. Other protective gears that can be worn are shoe covers, medical caps, gowns and masks that are fluid repellent and durable to protect you and your patient from infection. Items like the BioMask Antiviral Isolation mask inactivates 99.99% of tested influenza viruses on 5 minutes contact with surface of mask.
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| SharpStar Container |
In your practice, implementing proper sharps disposal can prevent unnecessary sharps related injuries and spread of infection. The SharpStar containers feature a counter balanced lid, which helps control, and prevent overfilling and limit access to the contents in the container. Sharps containers are available in different volumes to accommodate your specific needs. A few tips to consider when choosing a container for your practice is to be sure it is puncture resistant, durable during installation and transport, and an appropriate size and shape.
Lab Supplies
Lab Tests
After a patient is examined, he or she is often required to undergo further testing to diagnose or rule out certain medical conditions. Many offices stock standard lab tests for in-office testing to eliminate the need to send patients to offsite labs. Ordinary rapid lab tests screen for influenza, strep, pregnancy, RSV, mononucleosis, and other frequently occurring ills and conditions. Drug tests determine if a patient is using alcohol, nicotine, or up to thirteen common street or prescription drugs with a small urine, saliva, or breath sample. Urinalysis tests are used to diagnose kidney infections, urinary tract infections, and diabetes. All test types may be validated with the use of appropriate Reagents for accurate results every time.
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| Vacutainer Needle |
In addition to the tests themselves, various supplies are needed for the collection and examination of samples. In blood-drawing offices, laboratory technicians will require tourniquets, collection tubes, needles and syringes, and lancets. Specimen cups and kits are necessary for urine samples and analysis.
Congratulations! Your office is now furnished, equipped, supplied, and ready for patients. We at Tiger Medical Supplies wish you the best of luck in your new endeavor and hope that you will continue to check in with us to keep your practice running smoothly, efficiently, and affordably.
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