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Pat Pejakovich
Senior Consultant
Take a Look at your High Level Disinfectant Usage
Perhaps your organization has been using some type of high level disinfectant for years and you feel comfortable that the practice follows the manufacturer's recommendations. Think again as this is one area that seems to drift from the defined procedure as staff change, different disinfectants make their way into the organization, new equipment is purchased or shortcuts are implemented as time savers.
Staff who are performing high level disinfection need to be trained and their competency documented. A procedure should be readily available to staff in the event that time has passed since the last were assigned the task of disinfection.
One of the weakest steps in the process have been repeatedly identified as the lack of cleaning the instrument prior to submersing in the disinfection. The basis principle of disinfection is that the product must come in contact with all surfaced of the instrument; this cannot occur if any type of gel or body secretions are still adhered to the instrument.
The process of high level disinfection is too lengthy to totally review in this article. A common product used for high level disinfection is Cidex OPA. For your use, a checklist for evaluating your organization's usage of this product is available by clicking here.
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