Tech in Surgery Prep / Unit 7 TSC 159 worked example, 60 to 90 seconds
Event-Related Sterility
The idea
Event-related sterility is the principle that a sterile package stays sterile until an event, not the passing of time, contaminates it.
In practice
Learn the events in order of how often they happen. First, handling: the more a package is handled, the more likely it is to be damaged, so the probability of contamination rises with handling. Second, moisture: a package that gets wet is contaminated, because moisture carries microbes from air and surfaces. Third, damage: a tear, a puncture or a broken seal ends sterility. Fourth, the environment: dust, traffic, humidity, pests and poor storage all raise the risk. Many hospitals use this practice instead of stamping every package with a time-based expiry date, and studies support it.
Where people slip
Event-related does not mean forever. Any package with an expiration date is not used once the date has passed, and any package that has met one of the events is reprocessed, however recently it was sterilized.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
Builds on
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