4 0 S U P P L E M E N T T O O U T P A T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E M A Y 2 0 1 5
• By keeping like instruments together by set. If you expect to get those
instruments back quickly, you'll save the reprocessing staff valuable minutes if
you transport the set organized and intact.
• By keeping them moist and covered for the trip to SPD. Any biohazard — in
this case, dirty instruments — should be transported in a closed, covered, punc-
ture-resistant container.
• By disassembling instruments composed of more than one piece (trocars,
depth gauges or laparoscopy instruments, for example) in order for cleaning
solutions to contact all surfaces. If cleaning solutions can't reach all a device's
surfaces, organic material and debris can be retained.
Perioperative personnel's role
Much has been written about SPD's role in decontaminating instruments. But
what about the steps
your OR team must take
before the instruments
get to sterile processing?
What about the operating
room's part in the care
and handling of devices,
during and immediately
following the case?
I was a scrub tech for 7
years before I became a
nurse. I can still remem-
ber how instruments
would often arrive at
sterile processing from
the OR: mismatched,
caked in blood ... and
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