Central Service - Issue 5/2012
 NEWS UPDATE
- What's New in Standardisation: Standardisation in Europe
- Professional reprocessing of medical devices. DGSV Congress in Fulda, 3 - 5 October 2012
- International Exchange in the Mother Tongue. 1st International French-Language Sterilization Congress (JIFS) in Geneva, 28 - 29 September 2012
- 100 meetings under steam and still active
- Aseptic Surgery Forum 2012. International multidisciplinary meeting, Paris, April 3 - 4, 2012
FROM THE FIELD
T. Blechschmidt:
Routine Control of Washer-Disinfectors
Abstract
This paper describes the steps leading up to the introduction of an in-house standard for routine control of a washer-disinfector (WD). There are no clearly defined specifications as to how this is done. But the operator must ensure that the results of performance qualification at the time of validation are routinely verified and recorded. In that way the unchanging quality of the process can be guaranteed. The frequency and scope of routine checks must be defined by the operator since the conditions prevailing in each Central Sterile Supply Department (CSSD) will differ. The final decision on routine checks is taken by the user, who then must answer to the supervisory bodies. It was necessary to take a look at all the (operating) media used in the cleaning and disinfection process in order to be able to formulate a good and robust in-house standard. Besides, the performance of different test systems was compared with that of one of the test instruments specified in DIN EN ISO 15883-5. That comparison helped to reach a decision on which test system should be used to assure optimum routine monitoring. A standard on test soil would be beneficial as its use would be binding for the manufacturers, too, and the use of just any test systems chosen by the manufacturer would be a thing of the past. The activities described in this article led to the introduction of the in-house standard for routine checks of WDs at Orthopädie Bad Hersfeld.
LETTERS
Current reference devices for hollow instrument loads as defined in standards are not a valid steam penetration test
Simplified Validation
EDUCATION
P. Heeg:
Vancomycin-resistant enterococci
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