U
ntil they get cited in an inspection, most sterile pro-
cessing departments are forced to cut corners and take
shortcuts. My job is to arrive on the scene in advance
of the surveyor's unannounced visit to discover areas
of needed improvement so your SPD passes inspection
with flying colors. Because I can't get out to see all of you, I'll share
the areas surveyors are sure to review. Don't say you weren't warned.
1. Follow instruments from dirty to clean.
The 4 main
components of a sterile processing department are decontamina-
tion, inspection/assembly, sterilization and storage. But the inspec-
A U G U S T 2 0 1 9 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y. N E T • 7 3
Bob Marrs, BA, ST, CRCST, CIS, CHL | Georgetown, Texas
Will Your Sterile Processing
Department Pass Inspection?
Get central sterile in tip-top shape
before the surveyor shows up.
• LIGHTED MAGNIFICATION Surveyors want to see your reprocessing techs inspecting sterilized instruments with magnified lighting.
tion neither starts nor ends in
those areas. Using what's called
the Tracer Method, surveyors
will follow instruments from
dirty to clean. They'll observe
them from the OR post-use
until they're returned to the OR
for the next procedure. Here's
what the surveyors will expect
to see from your OR and repro-
cessing staffs:
• Point-of-use cleaning.
Surveyors want to know that
you're cleaning instruments as
much as possible during proce-
dures. They're checking that
gross debris is removed and
lumens are adequately flushed
