Tech in Surgery Prep / Unit 7 TSC 169 worked example, 60 to 90 seconds
Verifying a Sterilizer After Repair
The idea
A sterilizer is verified with indicators before it is put into routine use, and again after events that could affect it.
In practice
Follow the verification. First, the triggers: installation, relocation, redesign, major repair, or a sterilization failure. Second, for steam, three consecutive empty cycles are run with a biological and a chemical indicator, and each type of cycle the sterilizer uses is tested separately. Third, a prevacuum sterilizer also runs three consecutive empty cycles with an air-removal test. Fourth, the sterilizer goes back into use only when all biological indicators are negative and the chemical indicators show a correct result. Changes in packaging, wraps or load arrangement are tested in a similar way, and items processed during those evaluation cycles are held until the results are negative.
Where people slip
A sterilizer that has been repaired is not trusted until it proves itself. Using it early, to clear a backlog, defeats the purpose of every indicator that follows.
Your place on the trail
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