Hospital equipment needs to be kept clean, not only for the patients' safety, but also for the safety of hospital workers. Properly-cleaned equipment is crucial for preventing unnecessary infections and the spread of disease. While many hospitals have automated cleaners, it is important to know manually clean all equipment, in case the mechanical cleaner is broken.
Instructions
1. Wear appropriate protective equipment. This includes rubber gloves, an apron made of plastic, protective eyewear and a mask. This is as much to protect the equipment from contamination as it is for your own protection.
2. Soak the equipment in a detergent bath made from tap water.
3. Vigorously scrub the equipment using a soft brush (such as a toothbrush), detergent and water. Keep all items under the water's surface while scrubbing them to prevent splashing. Instruments with numerous parts should be disassembled and any grooves, joints or teeth thoroughly scrubbed. Organic material can collect in all of these spots.
4. Flush any tubing with a water jet, and thoroughly rinse off all of the detergent using clean water. It's important to get all of the detergent off for the remaining steps to be as effective as possible.
5. Inspect and dry all items to make sure there are no spots you've missed. Drying is essential to chemically disinfecting the equipment. If you plan to disinfect the equipment by boiling it or using an autoclave, you don't need to dry the equipment.
6. If you plan to chemically disinfect the equipment, immersing it in an alcohol bath should thoroughly sterilize it. Otherwise, use an autoclave or boiler while following your facility's protocol.
Tags: disinfect equipment, equipment plan