As reported recently, Stanton Territorial Hospital had to cancel surgical cases because of wet surgical instruments packs. Not knowing the extent of their issues or the end solutions for their problems, I don't want to assume what the problem was. However, wet packs are often related to poor steam quality. There has been a lot of focus on critical water supplies for sterile processing, and for good reasons. Not often enough, discussions regarding steam quality for sterile processing are had. Typically, the topic of steam quality only comes up when issues arise. With more critical water supply designs increasing capacities in sterile processing departments, opportunities have arisen for cleaner steam. Clean steam boilers offer steam in a more pure state than what the mechanical rooms in hospitals can offer. The steam is produced in separate boilers using the critical water supply and is located in or near CSSD, with stainless steel piping being used to carry the steam to the sterilizers. Clean steam provides benefits for your instruments, equipment, and patient care by removing numerous contaminants that other systems have. System redundancies can also be built into the delivery system so that if there is a mechanical failure with one of your boilers, you don't have all of your equipment offline at one time, unlike hospital delivery systems.
At Evolved Sterile Processing, our consultants have a greater focus on sterile processing. With our decades of experience, we will help you develop better processes and educational resources for your staff.
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