GNYDM24 Product Focus: Karen Gregory, RN, CDPIC, discusses the importance of proper instrument processing and patient safety

Video Transcription:

Hi, my name is Karen Gregory. I'm actually a registered nurse who found her home in the dental industry. I love instrument reprocessing. I love anything to do with patient and employee safety. And one of the consistent issues that I see when I am out working with clients is the fact that a lot of times instruments that are wet at the end of the sterilization cycle are removed from the chamber and actually placed on a counter to dry or taken chair side. If you look at national standards, you will find that these packages should be considered wet. They should not be used for patient care. They actually should be taken back. They should be repackaged and they should be reprocessed.

So, there's a lot of things that you can do to reduce the likelihood of those wet packaging. Just a few would include making sure that the instruments are dry before you package them and put them in the sterilizer. Make sure that you are loading that sterilizer appropriately. Heavier items need to go at the bottom of the unit. One thing is really important, that you don't overload, because that can lead to a sterilization failure. There are also differences in sterilizers. There are sterilizers such as the Lexa units [from W&H] that use a closed door drying system, and with that, you automatically reduce the temptation of removing those instruments that are wet, plus they use a mechanical means to assist with the drying. Hope that every day, as you're working in sterilizing in the sterilization area, that you realize that patient safety is a priority, and you always want to provide instruments that are sterile for that patient care delivery.