Medical instrument reprocessing: current issues with cleaning and cleaning monitoring
The complexity of medical devices has increased over the past 10 years, and outbreaks of infections due to contaminated devices have focused attention on the need to adequately clean medical devices in order to ensure the adequacy of disinfection and sterilization. There has been a paradigm shift in reprocessing of medical devices, with increased emphasis […]
How Clean are your Surgical Instruments?
How Clean are your Surgical Instruments? Joe Paone April 5, 2023 https://www.aorn.org/outpatient-surgery/article/how-clean-are-your-surgical-instruments Introduction Sterile processing leaders offer key insights on what they use to confirm and improve sterility. Just because an instrument has been reprocessed doesn’t mean that it’s clean. In some cases, that’s because reprocessing techs are rushing and forced to sometimes cut corners […]
A review of Spaulding’s classification system for effective cleaning, disinfection and sterilization of reusable medical devices: Viewed through a modern-day lens that will inform and enable future sustainability.
A review of Spaulding’s classification system for effective cleaning, disinfection and sterilization of reusable medical devices: Viewed through a modern-day lens that will inform and enable future sustainability. ABSTRACT Editor: Damià Barceló Keywords: Medical devices, sustainability Spaulding classification, cleaning, processing Patient risk, endoscopes, reprocessing Despite advances in medicine and innovations in many underpinning fields including […]
High-level disinfection, sterilization, and antisepsis: current issues in reprocessing medical and surgical instruments
American Journal of Infection Control High-level disinfection, sterilization, and antisepsis: current issues in reprocessing medical and surgical instruments Abstract Technology is rapidly changing many aspects of health care. The intricate design of instruments, the configuration of instrument trays, and evidence-based practice have resulted in the need for complicated and specific reprocessing recommendations from instrument manufacturers. […]
Current issues in reprocessing of medical and surgical instruments
American Journal of Infection Control Current issues in reprocessing of medical and surgical instruments Abstract By the very nature of reusability, processing for reusable medical devices has been and continues to be risk prone. Healthcare systems have historically been slow to embed best practice quality control elements into everyday reprocessing workflow. The identification of weak […]
Ensuring critical instruments and devices are appropriate for reuse
The Joint Commission Division of Healthcare Improvement Quick Safety Issue 64, February 2022. Ensuring critical instruments and devices are appropriate for reuse Surgical instruments and other critical devices – those that enter sterile tissues1 – are reprocessed and reused every day in hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, and other health care facilities. Because of the costs […]