Liquid Chemical Sterilization for Heat Sensitive Equipment

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Adequate reprocessing of reusable medical equipments and devices is a critical factor in patient safety. Liquid chemical sterilization is quickly becoming a popular choice among health care facilities because of the increasing amount of heat sensitive instruments that are being used today. While this kind of sterilization has not demonstrated to be as effective as thermal sterilization, heat sterilization is not always the most preferred way to clean equipment and hence liquid chemical sterilization has become n FDA validated process to render heat sensitive instruments free of all sorts of microorganisms and disinfection of medical devices.

Instruments that Require Chemical Sterilization

There are a wide range of medical equipments that simply cannot be treated with heat sterilization. These include, biological materials, fiber optics, electronics, and other instruments made out of plastic. Medical equipment is expensive and those devices and instruments that can be reused must first be sterilized thoroughly before they come in contact with the hospital staff or other patients.

Types of Liquid Chemical Sterilization

High level of sterilization can be achieved using Peracetic Acid or Glutaraldehyde. Glutaraldehyde is a liquid disinfectant recommended for the purposes of high level disinfection of medical devices that arte heat-sensitive. Sterilization through glutaraldehyde can be achieved by immersing the items for hours into the solution. It is important that those using Glutaraldehype take proper safety measure while handling the chemical for sterilization.

The other chemical used is Peracetic Acid which has proved to be an effective chemical to sterilize rooms, equipments, medical surgical and dental instruments. Unlike, glutaraldehyde, it allows healthcare workers to safely sterilize instruments and equipments in a short period of time, thereby reducing the concern of cross contamination between patients while keeping in mind worker safety.

The concentration of the chemical and the amount of time an item is allowed to remain in contact with it, determines the success of the sterilization process.

Indicators for Liquid Chemical Sterilization

Study has shown that bioindicators are neither appropriate nor necessary in order to monitor the liquid chemical sterilization process for disinfection of medical devices. Such indicators are more suitable for monitoring traditional sterilization methods that are achieved through heat or other means. As a result, there are several chemical indicators approved by the government that have rendered themselves more useful in monitoring the concentration of liquid chemical sterilants.