Instrument preparation
Nowadays, many surgeries and clinics use disposable surgical instruments made from the composite materials Plastic and metal. In 2014 alone, hospitals in Germany used over 8,000 tonnes of disposable instruments made of chrome steel. As these recyclable materials cannot be separated, they are disposed of in waste incineration plants and must therefore be scrutinised against the background of resource and environmental protection.
As an alternative, instrument reprocessing offers the most sustainable and cost-effective solution for practices with medium-sized operating theatre volumes. A major hurdle with this method is usually the mandatory QM documentation. Dr Christina Hecker has therefore kindly provided the most important QM documents online as templates to support those colleagues who would like to transform their practice in this area in the long term. These have been carefully compiled with the help of experts from the hygiene sector and have already been tried and tested several times during routine inspections by the health authorities and the district government.
Unfortunately, there is currently no collection system for surgeries due to a lack of profitability.
Process descriptions
Checklists
- 11TP3Prepare a disinfectant solution
- Steam steriliser error messages
- Wound infection recording form
- Creating a sealed seam
- Instrument reprocessing in the washer-disinfector
- Instrument list
- Labelling of reprocessed medical devices
- Testing technical-functional safety
- Sterile goods and cleaning monitoring
- Sterile goods storage
- Sterile goods monitoring autoclave
- Sterile packaging
