W
ill that staple of sterilization known as blue wrap
soon be virtually extinct, elbowed aside by more
cost-effective and more green-conscious rigid
containers? That's definitely the trend, says Gail
Horvath, MSN, RN, CNOR, CRCST, a patient safe-
ty analyst and consultant for ECRI Institute, a non-profit healthcare
research organization in Plymouth Meeting, Pa. The one big stumbling
block is that some manufacturers have yet to validate that their instru-
ments can achieve sterilization in rigid containers. And they have limit-
ed motivation to do so once they've garnered FDA approval by proving
that their instruments can be sterilized in blue wrap. Validation is a
long, tedious process that involves a lot of work on their part and little
financial reward.
8 8
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 | February 2015
The Case for
Rigid Containers
Is it time to make a clean break from blue wrap?
Jim burger | associate editor
Pamela
bevelhymer,
rN,
bSN
z FROM BLUE TO GREEN
In addition to being more
cost-effective than blue
wrap, rigid containers
reduce medical waste.