Medical Assistant Prep / Unit 9 MAS 212 worked example, 60 to 90 seconds
Three Kinds of Indicator
The idea
Sterilization is monitored with three kinds of indicator, each answering a different question.
In practice
First, mechanical indicators: the sterilizer's printout or gauges record the time, temperature and pressure of each cycle, so you can confirm that the cycle ran correctly. Second, chemical indicators: inks that change color when exposed to sterilizing conditions, placed on the outside of each pack and, preferably, inside it as well. Third, biological indicators: strips or vials of highly resistant bacterial spores, which show whether the process actually killed living organisms.
Where people slip
Only a biological indicator measures killing power. Mechanical and chemical indicators can look right even when a load was not sterilized, so all three are used together, and a failure in any one of them means the load is not released for use.
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