Antisepsis, Disinfection and Sterilization
Concurrent Education Session - 60 minutes
.jpg "Lydia Grimes, MSN, BA, RN, CIC photo")
Josephine Fox, MPH, RN, CIC
Lead Infection Prevention Specialist
Barnes Jewish Hospital
St. Louis, MO
Nothing to disclose
.jpg "Lela Luper, RN CIC, FAPIC photo")
Lela Luper, RN CIC, FAPIC
Infection Preventionist
Chickasaw Nation Department of Health, Oklahoma
Nothing to disclose
Outpatient clinics and ambulatory care settings provide healthcare services to an increasing number and patients and the complexity of medical procedures conducted here has also grown. Many of these venues have taken on the task of independently managing complex reprocessing of semi-critical and critical instruments and devices. Clinics face a variety of challenges maintaining compliance including:
• high volume of patient visits
• competing demands and priorities
• frequent staff turnover
• lack of formal and/or inconsistent education and training
• inadequate resources, and
• insufficient space or configuring.
Adherence to the best practices around HLD and sterilization is of utmost importance to ensure patient safety and reduce the risk of infection risk from the use of reusable instruments.
Using our university-affiliated outpatient clinics as an example, participants will get foundational learning for reprocessing best practices for staff who perform HLD and/or sterilization of semi-critical and critical devices. The session will consist of an overview of best practices, methods to operationalize them, and a Q&A session. Participants will learn real-life approaches to developing standard work, engaging and educating staff, and verifying compliance through auditing and data reporting for more than 60 outpatient clinics.