Central service in Siberia

In 1992, eight healthcare professionals from United Hospital in Grand Forks, North Dakota spent six weeks in Ishim, in the Siberian region of Russia, on a medical information exchange to observe the methods of healthcare delivery, assess the needs of medical facilities and share technical advice where applicable. Ishim's CS workers were anxious to learn how to better utilize the resources they had--which were few. Supplies were so limited that CS workers were provided little personal protective equipment; there were not even gloves available for handling contaminated instruments in the washing and decontamination areas. Ishim's facility reprocessed virtually everything, including tongue depressors and surgeons' gloves. The CS department cleaned, assembled and sterilized instruments for Ishim City Hospital's OR and for the city's 28 clinics. When United's representatives returned to the U.S., they formed a supply committee to procure instruments and other needed materials for the Russian hospital and clinics.