News

Instrument Processing And Sterilization: Key Considerations

Instrument Processing And Sterilization: Key Considerations
by John A. Molinari, PhD

From the earliest days of their training, health-care providers (HCP) have specific infection control procedures and protocols ingrained into their daily routines. Infection prevention principles have remained basically the same over decades; a few representative ones are listed in Table 1. As advances in equipment technology and microbiology knowledge have continued to develop, however, HCP have had more choices for effectively applying these principles.

One of the more complex components of an infection control program is reprocessing instruments for patient care. It involves multiple steps, uses specialized equipment for instrument cleaning and sterilization, and requires adequate space for processing and storage. Most importantly though, qualified personnel are required to perform tasks appropriately. Continued research has also sought out more efficient ways to effectively accomplish the major components of instrument reprocessing—cleaning, sterilization, monitoring, storage of sterile items, and delivery to patients.

Unfortunately, problems can arise in health-care facilities concerning how to best perform procedures for optimum results. Confusion can involve areas such as the efficacy of hand scrubbing versus mechanical cleaning of instruments, integration of instrument cassettes into practice, loading sterilizers, and monitoring sterilization cycles. This article will address a few of these key areas by using scenarios as described by clinical personnel, including the routine use of cassettes into dental practice as an increasingly important infection control component.

Read full article on Dental Economics.