Antisepsis, Disinfection and Sterilization

Concurrent Education Session - 60 minutes

3502 - Sterilization and Disinfection Troubleshooting for the IP

Primary Speaker(s)

• 

  Craig Wallace, BS Biochemistry, BS Microbiology

  Senior Technical Specialist
  3M Healthcare
  St. Paul, Minnesota

  3M Health Care: Employment

Moderator(s)

• 

  James Davis, MSN, RN, HEM, CCRN-K, CIC, FAPIC

  Senior Infection Prevention Analyst
  ECRI Institute
  Telford, Pennsylvania

  Nothing to disclose

Effective disinfection or sterilization of medical devices is a critical element of a comprehensive IPC program. The sterilization processes used by medical device manufacturers for sterile single-use medical devices are tightly controlled and regulated. Device reprocessing in the healthcare facility, however, is a complex task performed in a challenging environment and is more susceptible to variability due to system, equipment, and human factors. Reprocessing failures can, and do, occur as documented in the literature.

This session will provide the participants with an understanding of the key factors that can affect the efficacy of the most common HLD and terminal sterilization processes used in healthcare facilities. The quality management system and quality control tools described in current industry standards and recommended practices (AAMI, CDC, APIC, AORN, SGNA) will be reviewed to provide guidance on how to develop an effective quality control program based on risk analysis for device reprocessing in the IP’s healthcare facility.

Finally, case studies of HLD and terminal sterilization process failures will be discussed, with recommendations on how to use available tools to investigate and resolve a device reprocessing failure.

Learning Objectives:

• Upon completion, participants will be able to define the critical elements of disinfection and sterilization processes that will have the most significant effects on process efficacy. .
• Upon completion, participants will be able to review and update their device reprocessing quality control plan based on risk analysis processes to insure alignment with current best practices.
• Upon completion, participants will be able to conduct an efficient and effective investigation into a medical device reprocessing failure.