Central Sterile Processing Department

* Clean the instruments after use and put away when finished in the correct place

Dirty equipment – having dirty equipment which is not cleaned between patients can spread infection very fast lots of bacteria can be spread on a blood pressure cuff for example.

All equipment must be cleaned in between patients if it is re-usable and not for single use. There are three levels of risk High, intermediate and low, and three ways to decontaminate Cleaning, Sterilisation, and Disinfection.

6. The mixtures were then correctly disposed of, and steps 1. and 2. were repeated.

All areas that are being used for healthcare activities should be cleaned with either disinfectant wipes each morning and in between patients/procedures. Equipment should be all new out of the packets and clean. For things more major such as vasectomy’s, minor surgery or family planning clinics, areas should be cleaned everywhere with a disinfectant fluid and also with wipes, gloves should always be worn as well as other PPE such as aprons and hats. All equipment should be new from the packet and only touched by the person who is using

“Scenario 1: You’ve been running behind schedule all day and have not had time to clean and sterilize instruments from the morning patients. You’ve discovered that there are no more sterile cord-packing instruments, and your last patient of the day has waited 10 minutes past her appointment time for a crown prep procedure. CHOICES: You can quickly process the instruments you need and sterilize them in an “immediate use” cycle in the autoclave, delaying the procedure at least another 10 minutes, or you can thoroughly wipe down the instruments with a one-minute intermediate-level disinfectant and incorporate them in your tray set-up.” (DentistryIQ,2018)

6. The disks in the 0.00% solution were transferred to an agar plate held next to the blue flame using the sterilized tweezers. Excess disinfectant was removed from the disks by wiping on the side of the well of the spotting tile. When the 5 disks were positioned (refer to Figure 1 below) the lid was replaced and sticky taped down. A label was added indicating the concentration of disinfectant.

Dreading going to work was my lifestyle, up until our new director, Jessica Gettings. The workplace atmosphere has improved greatly, with her making several necessary changes. Almost all of the changes had been over-looked in the past by our previous director, with Sterile Processing being one of the most neglected. Multiple workers have noticed, through all these transitions, that attitudes have shifted to a more positive mood, work production has begun to increase, and workers in this department have started to feel more connected. Within the last month, however, I have seen a decline in work production from Sonia Tribble and Tyler Boedecker, both of which have had problems in the past. The two, seem to, show up late and avoid work by conversing

While shadowing my fellow upper cohorts during the clinic I had made many observations. Unfortunately I was only able to shadow one clinic, although I observed a lot. Marie was the first student that I was shadowing, she was the CA for the day. We started by stocking the cabinets with the necessities. Marie and I then took the dental tools out of the machines that cleaned, sterilized, and dried them. I was shown that there are two sides in the lab. What I mean by this is that the left side is a dirty side which you should always wear gloves so that you are always protected from the bacteria and germs that the tools carry. Everything on this side has to be handled carefully and you must always wash and sanitize your hands when you are through. The right side is the clean side where the tools and dental accessories are kept so that they stay clean and sterile. Next I was with Jennifer, although she had no patients that day due to a

There are two kinds of aspects in this case, one is the current cleaning process and the other is the new cleaning process.

However, to keep these pieces of medical equipment up and running, they must take solemn practices of sanitizing and cleaning of the materials.

Research shows that Surgical site infections are preventable. According to the CDC, hand hygiene is the simplest approach to preventing the spread of infections and needs to be incorporated into the culture of the organization. Ensuring the use of infection control prevention is an important component of nursing care. Infection control prevention policies must be communicated undoubtedly to all employees. Staffers who do not comply must be re-educated to ensure that all are complying. Speaking up and pointing out that a nurse forgot to wash his or her hands, or notifying the surgical team that surgical instruments were not adequately cleaned may seem like small issues; but at the same time, not acknowledging a break in a sterile technique could mean the difference between life and death for a patient. One hospital that was struggling with high levels of infection related to surgical procedures, implemented a pre-procedure huddle as a team. This innovate way decreased the spread of infection and was a great way to improve the quality of care for patients. As mandated by the Joint commission, infection prevention personnel should provide multidisciplinary education on SSI prevention, to all team members, including

* Hand washing is the most important method of preventing the spread of infection by contact (Ayliffe et al 1999). The Nottingham University Trust Policy on Hand Hygiene (2009) states that there are three types of hand hygiene, the first is ‘routine hand hygiene’ which involves the use of soap and water for 15 – 20 seconds or the application of alcohol hand rub until the hand are dry. The second is ‘hand disinfection’ which should be used prior to an aseptic procedure by washing with soap and water and applying alcohol hand rub afterwards. The third is ‘surgical hand washing’ which is the application of a microbial agent to the hands and wrists for two minutes. In addition to which a sterile, disposable brush may be used for the first surgical hand wash of the day although continued use will encourage colonisation of microbes. The third example is the most appropriate to any O.D.P undertaking the surgical role as it is the best way for the surgical team to eliminate transient flora and reduce resident skin flora (World Health Organization 2010). The first and second are important to any O.D.P undertaking any other role within the Operating Department as this is the best way to reduce the transient microbial flora without necessarily affecting the resident skin flora

The needles and scalpel blades belong to be discarded into a sharps container, not into the garbage can. An infected uterus is considered medical waste. Linda needs to check with the hospital policy to learn how to identify and properly handle medical waste. It is necessary to place wet floor signs whenever there is a wet floor. Linda should never ever dispose of any sharps into a garbage can. She should also never open a used sharps container. The examination tables should be disinfected and not just cleaned with soap and paper towels. The floors should always be washed even if they don’t “look dirty.” Electrical outlets are the biggest cause of a fire in a veterinary practice. Linda needs to move the computer wires to where they are out of the way, it is dangerous for cords and wires to become a tripping hazard. Boxes should never be left in the waiting room or be blocking a

“The Process Improvement in Stanford Hospital’s Operating Room” case has many issues when it comes to regards to its existing instrument provisioning process taking place within the Operating Room (OR) of Stanford’s Hospital. This process entails getting instruments ready for a surgery in the OR and the cleansing of these instruments afterwards; however, there are many problems that arise in this process.