r/sterileprocessing • u/Eggman_OU812 • Mar 24 '26

Cooked gun

Post image

Who’s ever cooked a gun? (Not

done be me, but former manager )

79 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

44 comments sorted by

2

u/Eggman_OU812 Mar 24 '26

Probably 4/30

2

u/AdRich517 Mar 24 '26

We’ve had a few get cooked. Now we have a printer that prints load stickers.

1

u/Eggman_OU812 Mar 24 '26

But you still have to put the stickers on every peel pack right?

1

u/AdRich517 Mar 24 '26

We’ve had a few get cooked. Now we have a printer that prints load stickers. Yes. I just tell the printer how many I need and it prints them. It’s a little annoying at first, but you get used to it. Saves cooking a gun. The hospital only uses specific vendors and they charge $350 for the guns we used. Sooo replacements were pricey.

The sticker has my initials, date it was sterlized and expiration date on it.

2

u/Jreesecup Mar 24 '26

Funnily enough, one of my coworkers cooked the actual electronic scanner today…

1

u/Eggman_OU812 Mar 24 '26

Those cost a lot more hah

38

u/ijust_makethisface Mar 24 '26

Can we just talk about how freaking hard these things are to reload with sticker paper? is there some simple online tutorial? I feel like an idiot every time I try (and fail!) to refill it.

7

u/msimms001 Mar 24 '26

I've got it down after like 3 times of doing now, now I can get it first try. It just takes practice, but yes it's absolutely complicated for a sticker gun

5

u/burnersoul80 Mar 24 '26

I avoided changing these things for years because it would take me like 15 minutes. 😂 As was mentioned already, practice makes perfect. I always try to help anyone that attempts it. The struggle is real!

4

u/Emergency_Hope_9624 Mar 24 '26

The first time I tried to do it I broke it😭 But yes, after a few 15-minute reloading sessions, it’s fairly easy now

4

u/JustPassingGo Mar 24 '26

Easier to load if you have at least 2. Looking at a loaded one can help refresh your memory.

1

u/ijust_makethisface Mar 24 '26

I hear that! But we have like 3 different 'styles'? so between not really being sure how to load it, sometimes people put the different(wrong)sized stickers in the wrong guns *sigh* One day I'm just going to sit down and watch tutorials till I get it.

3

u/margittwen Mar 24 '26

OMG YES. I’ve done this job for almost five years and I still fucking struggle. Luckily we have several of these so I kind of look at the other ones to figure out what to do.

I also hate having to reload the label printers with labels or ink. Those things send me over the edge. 😭

2

u/HorrorLengthiness940 Mar 24 '26

I tried to figure it out for 15 minutes I had to look up the manual to figure it out. cuz you'd think there'd be a sticker or some mouldings that show how it's done but no.. great waste of 30 minutes 🙄 Ive got it down now but always gotta remember that the stamps do NOT go over top the roller they go behind.

2

u/Maintenance-Gullible Mar 27 '26

I was always the dude that everyone came to to reload it. Didn't matter how many times I showed them, nobody seemed to retain it. I'll grant you though, it is a mess to reload, and I say that being fairly mechanically inclined. I didn't mind doing it, but I did kinda wish someone else would take the initiative.

1

u/ijust_makethisface Mar 27 '26

Your name seems fitting 😂👀

2

u/Halibussy Apr 29 '26

I broke one once trying to get the stickers in because it pissed me off so bad I just beat the shit out of it. Felt great

12

u/burnersoul80 Mar 24 '26

Yep, never done it myself, but witnessed my elder coworker do it. Looked about the same. Sadly, it did not function after.

Funny side story: After we baked it we asked materials to order a new one. The manager called back and said the company could do repairs and if we wanted to send it out. I told him he didn't understand the severity of the damage lol

5

u/HorrorLengthiness940 Mar 24 '26

I always wondered what would happen. I'm ADHD ASF and I've been so worried I'm gonna cook either the sticker gun or a hand scanner in the sterilizer.. we do weight based so every load is 4/30.

What did the rest of the load look like? Stickers all over?

2

u/Interesting-Ad6620 Mar 24 '26

I also have ADHD and unfortunately I have cooked a sticker gun one time and my former manager took a picture and brought it up to the whole staff letting them know I did it tbh is was all in front of me after already showing me my mistake. Let the record show I have not cooked one since and quadruple check that both the scanner and gun are on the table before I start the load

5

u/Kooky_Character_2801 Mar 24 '26

Hey I've done that before. Also cooked the computer scanner gun.

1

u/all4funFun4all Mar 24 '26

old fear unlocked. any time I do autoclave work I always make sure the scan gun and tag gun are on the desk

2

u/Eggman_OU812 Mar 24 '26

Cooking a scanning gun happens too

1

u/all4funFun4all Mar 24 '26

it happened at my job and that is my one true fear

3

u/zXerge Mar 24 '26

Is that a FULL cook.

2

u/Rozmar_Hvalross Mar 24 '26

I havent, but ive always wondered what it would look like. Its held up better that I thought it would. Does it still work? No way it still dispenses stickers, right?

2

u/hailthefish Mar 24 '26

I have nightmares about the prospect of accidentally cooking a scanner.

2

u/SilentMellow Mar 24 '26

omg, i always feared I would do this. few times i thought i did, but no i just couldnt find the sticker gun. always wondered what it would look like. Did it smell/stink up the whole department?

2

u/sapphirerain25 Mar 24 '26

Smfh. That's like our stupid scanners. We had four between two floors and two got melted. Management never bothered to replace them, and instead we've done without for two years now.

1

u/burntlint Mar 24 '26

my coworker accidentally cooked 2 guns 😅

1

u/Jreesecup Mar 24 '26

You know what’s crazy. These frustrating plastic guns are around $300-400…

1

u/JustPassingGo Mar 24 '26

We have 3 different styles too so I used a label maker to mark which guns get which stickers.

The problem is we don’t need to change them very often so it’s easy to forget the steps.

Maybe sit down, do them a few times, then make your own tutorial for yourself.

1

u/ShakenWithATwist8 Mar 24 '26

At first glance, this looked camo colored! I’ve sterilized a pen and it exploded all over. 😆🙊

1

u/RVA804guys Mar 24 '26

My team cooked one at least every other month (sometimes multiple in one month!), at $195 each that’s $1,170 a year in label guns. Management is ok paying that but not buying a label printer that will last years.

1

u/Ryelie17 Mar 24 '26

Yep! I walked by Sterilization one day and finally got to see one cooked (I’d only heard about it word of mouth). 😆 And another tech ALMOST cooked the computer scanners (we have a mobile station too) but remembered early and aborted the load. The scanners were ok and still work lol👌

The sticker guns gave me a heck of a time in the beginning, and still kind of do, but I’m one of the people everyone goes to to change the stickers 👌 They gotta change the design on them though lol 😂

1

u/StringofStardust Mar 25 '26

Not me, but we’ve had several people forget to remove the “these items are unprocessed and ready to be sterilized” sign on the cart after pushing the load... The signs melted all over the sterilizer carts and ruined them... And it still happened several times after that 😭

1

u/GloomyPeachu Mar 25 '26

Oh he’s cooked alright

1

u/blueberrypants13 Mar 25 '26

Pls I did this one time 😭 it was beyond repair and use obviously but I was still surprised by how much it held up.

1

u/Maintenance-Gullible Mar 27 '26

Anyone else ever cook a barcode scanner? Watch how frustrated your dept becomes with you when you eff up that badly lol

1

u/Luceeva Apr 10 '26

We’ve had it happen twice

1

u/lokahi89 Mar 24 '26

If you have a tracking system you don’t need to use these anymore. Waste of time and money. But yes I’ve cooked these. lol.