Information on Hospital Sterile Processing

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Somewhere in the deep dark depths of every hospital is a department that works like a well-oiled machine. It is hidden behind elusive doors with a sign that says “Authorized Personnel Only.” Hospital sterile processing is the backbone of every hospital. Without it, the hospital would fail to thrive.

Duties

Duties of hospital sterile processors are never ending. There is a constant need and turnover of sterile supplies, including surgical instruments, surgical supplies, and surgical linens. The sterile processors are also responsible for decontamination of reusable devices like tourniquets, blood pressure machines, compression machines, and equipment used in the operating rooms.

Sterile processors are also liaisons between departments like Labor and Delivery, Cath Labs, Radiology, Emergency Departments, and other departments who may have need of sterilization methods. With a constant awareness of inventories and needs of outlying departments, the hospital sterile processing department can hinder progress or make the hospital run as efficient as it can possibly run, depending on commitment and knowledge of the staff in said department.

Hospital sterile processors will communicate with numbers of people every day from physicians, sales reps, nurses, techs, department managers, and housekeeping. Accuracy within these departments is of utmost importance. When things are broken, missing, or deemed unsterile after the sterilization, the sterile processing technologist must know how to troubleshoot all of these glitches, and with a good attitude.

Traffic Patterns

Access to hospital sterile processing departments is limited. Only certain people in proper attire may enter. There is also a preferred traffic pattern, which should be followed by even the indigenous personnel. For the best results of preventing infection, this guideline should be accepted and adhered to for the betterment of personnel and patients included.

Decontamination Area

The decontamination area is where all of the gross blood and body fluids will be removed from instruments and other equipment. There may be a sonic type cleaner, which is used to stimulate particles and loosen them from lock boxes and other intricate parts of the instruments. There are usually large machines as well, called washer sterilizers. They start in preprogrammed cycles from cold-water rinse, which allows all proteins to loosen, and they finish with an extreme heat cycle that kills pathogens. This process cuts down on bioburden on the instruments and makes the instruments safer for sterile processing personnel to handle.

Clean items are received in the assembly and packaging area from the decontamination area and are then assembled and prepared for issue, storage, or further processing (like sterilization).

Distribution Area

In the distribution area, carts of equipment are prepared for delivery to other departments or for shelving items in the same department like operating room shelves. When sterile supplies are delivered to other floors and departments, items must be covered with sheets or wraps to prevent carrying airborne microbes into clean areas.

Methods

Sterile processing technologists must be aware and knowledgeable of all types of sterilization methods and the hazards that involve each one. Some of the types of sterilization found in hospital sterile processing areas involve chemical solutions, ozone gas, steam sterilization autoclaves, gas plasmas, radiation and dry heat.