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INFECTION PREVENTION
temperature, time or steam
STERILITY INSURANCE You should place multi-parameter
chemical indicators inside every sealed pack.
saturation. Class 5s react to
all critical parameters by
employing a spore strip that
indicates the sterilizer's ability to have killed all the organisms in a given cycle.
Class 5 indicators are preferred because experts consider them
more complete, but you may also consider Class 6 indicators, also
called emulating indicators, which allow for immediate release of sterilizer loads after processing, compared to an hour-plus with other indicators.5,6
4. For reprocessing purposes, items such as colonoscopes and laryngoscopes are considered which of the following?
a. critical items
b. semi-critical items
c. non-critical items
d. unmentionable items
b. semi-critical items
Semi-critical items include endoscopes, laryngoscopes and anesthesia
equipment. Reprocessing this equipment has been demonstrated to
have a "narrow margin of safety" due to high microbial load; complex,
lumen-containing instruments; intricate reprocessing protocols, deviation from which leads to risk of infection; and the potential for impropN O V E M B E R 2012 | O U T PAT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E
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