Happy sterile processing week!

No, I don’t know where we would be without them.

Sterile processing is the department that takes the used instruments, that are no longer sterile because they’ve been in someone, processes them, puts them into sets, and sterilizes them. For use by the next surgery.

That is a very, very, very simplified discussion of what they actually do.

The instruments start in the decontam room. This is where the instruments are pre-washed for blood and pieces before they go into the big washer that washes them with detergent.

The sterile processing tech has to know the IFU or instructions for use on every single piece of instrumentation and also how to use the many pieces of equipment that are in the department to clean and prepare the instruments for sterilization. After their bath, of course.

The IFU is the sterilization manual for every piece of instrumentation. From the manufacturer.

How long does an arthroscopic shaver have to be cooked?

By cooked, I mean sterilized in the big sterilizer. It is a combination of pressure, and time, and steam.

Kind of like a big Instapot.

Each specialized instrumentation has its own sterilization instructions.

Milking has to do with oiling the hinges. So that the clamps can be open to clamp.

There are also ultrasound machines to get stuck stuff unstuck. And to shake off the bioburden.

There is the sharpener that comes to sharpen all the scissor blades.

There is the steam sterilizer that is run on steam, and pressure, and time to sterilize things.

There is the Sterrad that used to be to sterilize the cameras with a mild form of acid.

There is the plasma sterilizer. It’s not what you think, it is for the more delicate things like batteries that still need to be sterilized for use but can’t be cooked too long or they lose their charge.

There are the 5,621 types of instruments that the sterile processing techs have to be able to identify at a glance and know what kind of instrument tray the instrument belongs in.

This is probably a WAY undercount.

This piece went to ER.

This piece stayed in the OR.

This piece got milked.

This piece stayed dry.

And this piece went whee, whee, whee. All the way home.

You knew where I was going with that, right?

The point is, without the SPD and their specialized knowledge about sterilization the OR would be sunk.

To think that when I was starting in the OR we were still dipping instruments in Cidex. That smell will take you back.

I am not an SPD tech, all the errors are mine. Beyond Clean does that what can, you know?

Beyond Clean is an amazing SPD education hub. I have learned so much!