Tech in Surgery Prep / Unit 6 TSC 133 worked example, 60 to 90 seconds
Immediate-Use Steam Sterilization
The idea
Immediate-use steam sterilization, long called flash sterilization, sterilizes a cleaned item for use straight away, usually unwrapped or in a special rigid container.
In practice
Learn when it is acceptable and when it is not. First, it is acceptable for a cleaned item that cannot be packaged, sterilized and stored before use, or when there is not enough time to process the item the preferred, wrapped way. Second, it should not be used for convenience, to avoid buying more instrument sets, or to save time. Third, it is not recommended for implants. If it is truly unavoidable for an implant, records must link the load, the patient and the biological indicator result. Fourth, an item processed this way is used at once, because an unwrapped sterile item open to the air will eventually become contaminated.
Where people slip
Items come out hot. Burns to patients have been reported from instruments that were still hot, so instruments are cooled, by air or by immersion in sterile liquid, before they touch the patient.
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