54 PROCESS NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2025 www.myhspa.org INSTRUMENT WHISPERER It is essential to assess your onsite repair vendor frequently. Ask the following questions to evaluate your current repair provider and the services delivered. If you answer No to eight or more questions, it is time to look for a new repair vendor. 1. Do you see the same repair technicians every visit? 2. Is the inside of the repair vehicle clean and well- maintained? 3. Are the majority (95%) of your instruments repaired and serviced on location? 4. Is the repair vendor charging the contracted prices 5. Does the contracted pricing include all instruments taken offsite? 6. Does your repair team work seven to eight hours each visit? 7. Are the repair technicians well-groomed and wearing clean uniforms? 8. Do you have a facial-hair policy for your repair vendor? 9. Do your repair technicians provide before-and-after photographs for various repairs? 10. At the end of the service day, do you receive a summary report of the work performed? 11. Do the repair technicians teach you their sharpness test standards? See Figures 1–3 for examples. 12. Do the repair technicians return all cracked and beyond- repair instruments to you? They should give you the opportunity to use your warranty. 13. Does the repair vendor have a plan for which trays are to be serviced monthly and quarterly? 14. Does the repair vendor conduct formal and informal education for your department? 15. Do the repair technicians remove and reapply instrument marking tape when refurbishing your instruments? 16. Are your repair technicians careful not to buff off catalog numbers during the repair process? 17. Do the repair technicians use magnification when repairing instruments? 18. Do you have more than one repair technician per visit? (The more the better.) 19. Have you reviewed the repair contract, including pricing? 20. Does your repair vendor service containers? 21. Does your repair vendor service laparoscopic instruments on location? 22. Is the turnaround time for instruments or equipment taken offsite fewer than five days? 23. Does the repair vendor service Kerrison rongeur sets more frequently? 24. Each time, do they disassemble the Kerrisons completely to allow for proper repair? 25. Does your repair vendor service your back-up instruments, especially scissors and needle holders? Figure 3 BY RICK SCHULTZ Testing Your Repair Vendor: Are They Making the Grade? Figure 1 Figure 1
NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2025 PROCESS 55www.myhspa.org INSTRUMENT WHISPERER Figure 4: Needle holder inspection points Here are some additional tips when selecting or evaluating your instrument repair vendor: The more onsite repair technicians, the better. If only one repair technician is in the vehicle, the hospital receives less value and lower-quality service. Beware the $500 to $1,000 per-day rate! This type of repair rate is growing in popularity and often benefits the repair vendor, not the hospital. To make this day-rate program work for the hospital, be sure to ask: • What, specifically, does a day-rate include? • How many technicians will be providing the service? (Two is good, three is better.) • Which trays will be serviced? • Which types of repairs will be done per tray? • Will all instruments be inspected and refurbished? • Will defective tape be removed and reapplied? • Who selects the trays to be serviced? • Which day will the repair team arrive, and how many hours will the repair vehicle be on location? Be sure to get this in writing. • What repair or preventative maintenance will be performed on each instrument? • Does the day rate include specialty trays such as Lap, Neuro, Spine and Ortho? • Will the same technicians be assigned to your account? • Will all instruments taken offsite have a pre-established repair price list? RICK SCHULTZ, the Instrument Whisperer™, is an author, inventor, lecturer, and the retired Chief Executive Officer of Spectrum Surgical Instruments Corp. He served as contributing editor of HSPA’s Central Service Technical Manual (fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth editions). Schultz authored the textbooks Inspecting Surgical Instruments: An Illustrated Guide and The World of Surgical Instruments: The Definitive Inspection Textbook, which was released in June 2018. In October 2021, Schultz published the veterinary medicine textbook The World of Surgical Instruments for Animal Health. Schultz was named HSPA’s Educator of the Year in 2002 and the American Hospital Association Educator of the Year in 2006. In 2007, he was named by Healthcare Purchasing News as one of the 30 Most Influential People in Healthcare Sterile Processing. Schultz currently provides educational lectures to Sterile Processing professionals at HSPA’s annual conferences and conducts Operating Room personnel lectures across the country. Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of HSPA. The content provided in this column is also not a reflection or representation of any other company or organization with which the author may be affiliated. To Charge or Not to Charge? Q : Should my repair vendor charge for refurbishing instruments with no moving parts, such as knife handles and ribbon retractors? A : No. These instruments should be refurbished at no charge due to their simplistic design and minimal labor involved.