How to achieve sterilization success in your healthcare facility

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Meta Description: If you want your facility to be sterilized successfully, it takes careful planning and organizational changes.

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Sterilizing medical devices is essential for protecting patients and controlling the spread of infectious diseases. Unfortunately, medical facilities are struggling to do it properly. Figures collected by The Joint Commission’s Office of Quality and Patient Safety found that 74 percent of immediate threats to life in hospital settings had to do with poor sterilization practices.

Sterilizing medical devices is critical for patient safety and controlling the spread of infectious diseases. Unfortunately, hospitals are struggling to sterilize medical devices properly. Figures collected by the Joint Commission’s Office of Quality and Patient Safety show that 74 percent of threats to life in hospital settings were caused by poor sterilization practices.

The rates of non-compliance with the infection control standard were much higher than you might think. 51 percent of hospitals, 58 percent of critical access hospitals, and 53 percent of office-based surgeries regularly failed to perform the tasks required by the Infection Prevention and Control Standard IC 02.02.01.

It is difficult to understand why compliance rates are so low, but the report explains why these compliance rates are so low and what medical professionals can do to improve them. Here are some things you can do to help staff sterilize at your practice.

Adopt A Culture Of Safety That Supports The Reporting Of Safety Risks

Consequently, medical professionals won’t report safety concerns if they feel pressured to keep quiet. Managers and leaders need to create a workplace where employees are willing to speak up when they have concerns.

Make sure sterilization is a high priority for everyone at your meetings. Talk about the fact that lack of compliance in this area is a leading cause of death for medical professionals. Talk about how failing to implement safety measures can cause harm to the company’s image, damage its reputation, cause legal actions, cause a problem to the health care system, and cause the CMPS to be unable to award benefits.

Use The Correct Procedures

Sterilization techniques for various medical equipment can vary greatly from one place to another. Cleaning sterilizer chambers is very different from cleaning surgical instruments.

There are many different kinds of cleaning solutions that medical professionals can use. Hot steam, dry heat, ethylene oxide gas, chlorine dioxide gas, radiation, and vaporized peracetic acid are all possible options for sterilizing equipment. All of these methods can be applied to sterilize different materials, depending on how the material is prepared and what kind of chemicals are present in the environment. But none of these methods work consistently, especially when you consider the toxicological effects of some of them.

Unfortunately, many medical professionals do not have adequate knowledge or training in how to clean the right items. They may use the wrong cleaning method or do not disinfect the equipment properly. Some professionals use the wrong cleaning method or fail to disinfect items properly, putting patients in danger.

It is important for staff to receive proper training before they start cleaning items. Label each item with the cleaning method you prefer and tell staff to follow the instructions as they appear.

Prioritize Disinfection

Hospitals should prioritize disinfection as a high-priority task that they do both operationally and strategically. Staff should know that preparing for the upcoming patient is as important as putting away equipment or taking care of another patient.

It’s important to get leadership on board with this. Leaders should show what middle-level managers and employees can expect from them.

Brief Teams On The Latest Sterilization Guidelines

Check that staff members are able to understand sterilization guidelines before they start work. These help people know how to properly store and maintain the equipment they have in their possession. They will also help prevent costly repairs in the long term.

Follow the instructions from the equipment manufacturers at the worksite. When staff leave a site, they will be reminded of the procedures that are to be followed. Always be sure that you have someone available to give you some assistance, particularly if you have lots of staff.

Employing a company like us at Preventative Medical Maintenance will help you with the equipment and services that you need to sterilize your patient successfully. Visit our website link above for more information!