STERILIZATION 4

STERILIZERS AND CONFIRM SUCCESS



WHAT ARE THE TYPES?


GRAVITY DISPLACEMENT STERILIZER The gravity (or "downward") displacement sterilizer uses the principle that air is heavier than steam.
-Within the sterilizer there is an inner chamber where goods are loaded and an outer jacket type chamber that injects steam forcefully into it.
-Any air in the inner chamber blocks the passage of pressureized steam to the surface of the goods and thus prevents sterilization.
-All the air must be removed because every surface of the supplies must be exposed to the pressurized steam to ensure sterilization.
-Therefore, the sterilizer is constructed in such a way that air is pushed downward by gravity (hence the name "gravity displacement sterilizer").

PRE-VACUUM STERILIZER The pre-vacuum sterilizer does not rely on gravity to remove air from the inner chamber. Instead, the air is pulled out of the chamber, which creates a vacuum in the chamber.
Steam is injected into the chamber to replace the air. This type of sterilizer offers greater steam penetration in a shorter time than the gravity displacement sterilizer.

FLASH STERILIZER The flash sterilizer has traditionally been used in the operating room and in other areas of the hospital to quickly sterilize items that are unwrapped.
It has been common practice to flash sterilize any instrument that had become contaminated during surgery.

HOW DO CONFIRM STERILIZATION?
- A chemical monitor is an object that is treated with material that changes its characteristics when sterilized.
This may be in the form of special ink that is impregnated into paper strips or tape and placed on the outside of the package, or it may be a substance that is incorporated into a pellet contained in a glass vial.
- The chemical responds to conditions such as extreme heat, pressure, or humidity but does not take into consideration the duration of exposure, which is critical to the sterilization process.
- Another monitoring method used to evaluate the steam sterilizer is the combined temperature time graphs that are installed within the control panel of the sterilizer. These graphs provide a permanent written record of all loads that have been processed.
- The surest way, to determine the sterility of given item, is with the use of biologic controls.
A highly resistant, nonpathogenic, spore-forming bacteria, is used as indicator. Contained in a glass vial or a strip of paper.
This is placed in the load of goods, to be sterilized.
For steam sterilization, the dry spores of the bacteria Bacillus Stearothermophilus are used.
The gas sterilization process uses the bacterium Bacillus Subtilis.
The vial or strip is recovered at the end of the sterilization process and cultured.
This process is time consuming and the results method of testing the efficacy of a sterilization process. Biologic controls should be administered at least once weekly. If feasible, they should also be used whenever an artificial implant or prosthesis is sterilized and the item withheld from use until the results are known to be negative.
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