Surgical Instrument Sourcing Process - Valuable Tools

PHILADELPHIA, October 10, 2011 -- As surgical facilities continue to struggle with decreasing budgets, stricter compliance to more standards and low staffing levels, surgical staff are constantly shifting priorities, costing facilities both time and money. While surgical staff places their primary focus on patient care, the list of tasks which must be completed continues to grow.

When surgical instruments are lost or broken, when instruments need to be acquired for a newly hired surgeon, or when building new sets for new procedures, it is rarely the primary responsibility of the staff member sourcing the products. While the internet proves a valuable resource, sourcing dozens of instruments is often challenging and always time consuming. Hundreds of websites from US-based instrument suppliers, specialty instrument vendors and companies who promote instrument sales and thousands of other unrelated products often prove more of a distraction than a solution.

Surgical staff who source specialty surgical instruments first need to locate the required instrument, sometimes the vendor, verifying the correct instrument, pricing and complete a cost comparison. The surgical instrument industry’s complexity, varied distribution methods and hundreds of ever-changing sales reps makes this task more challenging.

Millennium Surgical Corp has taken steps to streamline the process of surgical instrument procurement. In contrast to the vague information, unresponsive sales personnel and the delayed response times encountered with some web-based vendors, www.surgicalinstruments.com receives hundreds of requests and inquiries each week and provides answers immediately or within 24 hours.

The Instrument Guru, Quick Quote request box, a cross-reference tool and an online quote-request system have sourced hundreds of instruments for hospitals, surgical centers and ASCs. From discontinued to surgeon-preferred instruments, from cost comparisons to delivery estimates, these web-based tools with rapid response time decrease the amount of time surgical staff spend sourcing instrumentation for over-stressed and under-staffed facilities and waiting for answers.

Surgical staff requiring instant support for instrument-related needs can now begin an online conversation as well.

“We clearly see common themes in the hundreds of conversations we have with clients each month. Low budgets, lack of staff, lots of needs, little time, a crazy amount of varied surgical instruments required in the typical OR., the difficulty of researching and comparing surgical instruments” reported Robert Edelstein, President of Millennium Surgical and Surgicalinstruments.com. “We have always focused on supporting the staff in the operating room or central service and understand how important fast, accurate responses are to their day.”

“Since adding a live chat service to the surgicalinstruments.com website, we have helped more than two hundred facilities find the answer to their questions or requirements. Eliminating web browsing and catalogue searches from the instrument sourcing process is one of the most valuable tools we can give to the surgical industry.”