BluePearl of Richmond VA is a high-volume veterinary emergency surgical practice with 10 doctors of veterinary medicine (DVM) on staff. The practice has made a major investment in drills, surgical equipment and scopes. They have been an Andersen customer since 2002. Like the majority of our veterinary customers, they used an Anprolene sterilizer for most of that time. Early in 2020, the practice upgraded to an EOGas 4.
Andersen reps recently visited the practice and spoke with Amy Morgan, veterinary technician manager [watch full interview]. She has been with BluePearl of Richmond for 10 years. Amy gave several reasons why her techs prefer ethylene oxide (EtO) sterilization over a steam autoclave. One major benefit: Reduced equipment maintenance and repair costs.
“We found that EtO was safer to use on our mechanical instruments – such as drills, saws – because it doesn’t have the same corrosive properties that steam autoclave does. We found that we’re not sending them out (for repair) as frequently. We were sending out TPLO saws with steam autoclave every quarter – now we’re sending them out, maybe, once a year.” [watch]
Amy Morgan, Veterinary Technician Manager
BluePearl of Richmond VA
BluePearl of Richmond VA enjoyed the Anprolene for almost 20 years because it kept them from having to send out their surgical instruments for repair — saving time, money and keeping equipment in the hands of their DVMs for longer periods of time.
Most larger veterinary practices simply run a cycle overnight each night and, perhaps, one cycle over the weekend. With BluePearl of Richmond’s customer growth bringing an increase in surgeries, the practice needed to upgrade their gas sterilizer.
“The practice grew bigger and bigger, we had larger and larger gas bags to run every single day. And just from a sheer volume, we were running out of time to turn everything over in a safe amount of time. So we looked into the new system that allowed a shorter cycle. We’re able to turn things over midday, rather than having to wait overnight.” [watch]
Amy Morgan, Veterinary Technician Manager
BluePearl of Richmond VA
The upgrade to the EOGas 4 allowed BluePearl of Richmond to go from a 12 or 24-hour cycle to a 3.5-hour, heated cycle — which in turn allowed them to sterilize a higher volume of delicate equipment over a shorter period of time.
If your practice has reached a similar point, please reach out to our gas sterilization experts to see how an upgrade to an EOGas 4 could save YOUR practice time and money.