Patent ID: 7142118

Claim:
A method for distributing and processing reusable articles for use in a surgical environment in a medical facility wherein said articles will be contaminated and must be processed after each use to restore them to a condition suitable for reuse in said surgical environment, said method comprising the steps of: providing a plurality of reusable articles, each reusable article including a respective RFID tag fixedly secured thereto, each tag having a discrete identification number; utilizing a processing and distribution facility for distributing said reusable articles to a medical facility wherein the articles will be used in a surgical environment, said processing and distribution facility not forming a part of said medical facility and being located remotely therefrom; utilizing said processing and distribution facility for receiving said reusable articles after use by said medical facility; processing and decontaminating said received reusable articles at said processing and distribution facility to restore said articles to condition suitable for reuse in a surgical environment; passing each of said processed and decontaminated reusable articles in proximity to a tag reader at said processing and distribution facility, whereupon said tag reader identifies each of said processed and decontaminated reusable articles by automatically reading the discrete identification number associated with the RFID tag secured thereto; generating an output signal for each RFID tag read to a computer network, to provide information tracking the number of use cycles for each reusable article; inspecting each of said reusable articles and generating an other output signal to said computer network, said other output signal corresponding to the physical condition of said reusable article; and utilizing said output signals by said computer network to provide analytic information germane to quality control of at least one of the processing, decontamination, inspection and condition of said reusable articles.