Li Fang,1 Kaiping Xiao,1 Hongyu Zhu,1 Mingxia Zhang2 

1Disinfection Supply Center, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu, 215004, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Infection Management, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu, 215004, People’s Republic of China

Correspondence: Mingxia Zhang, Department of Infection Management, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, 1055 Sanxiang Road, Suzhou, Jiangsu, 215004, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86-0512-67783321, Email Zhangmingxia7831@163.com

Objective: This study examines the implementation of ‘ 6S’ nursing management in sterilization and supply centers to evaluate its impact on improving surgical instrument management and overall operational quality.
Methods: The pre-management phase was from January to June 2019, during which the conventional management mode was applied in our hospital’s sterilization and supply center, and 100 instrument packs were selected for quality inspection. The post-management phase was from July to December 2019, when the 6S management mode was implemented in the sterilization and supply center, with another 100 instrument packs selected for quality inspection. A total of 20 staff members were involved. The management quality (environmental management, packaging management, cleaning and sterilization, and instrument management), mastery of professional knowledge (theoretical knowledge, practical knowledge, and nursing skill knowledge), incidence of surgical instrument processing errors, quality of work (grooming, problem-solving, sense of responsibility, sense of initiative, and team communication), and work pass rate before and after 6S management were compared.
Results: After 6S management, the management quality scores were higher, the mastery of professional knowledge of personnel was raised, the quality of work was promoted, the overall incidence of errors in surgical instrument processing was reduced to 1%, and the qualification rates for cleaning, sterilization, and issuance were all increased to 100%, with significant differences compared to before the implementation of management measures (all P < 0.05).
Conclusion: The application of “ 6S” nursing management in the sterilization and supply center is an effective approach to addressing the current challenges of enhancing sterilization quality and management efficiency, significantly improving the quality of surgical instruments and work efficiency.

Keywords: sterilization and supply center, “ 6S” nursing management, quality of work, surgical instruments, quality of surgical instrument management