Thursday, February 28, 2013

INFECTION CONTROL 14



Sterilization Control
•     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 items is with the use of biologic controls. A strain of a highly resistant, nonpathogenic, spore-forming bacteria contained in a glass vial or a strip of paper 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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