Hospital Sterilization
EtO sterilization of medical equipment and surgical items may happen in more than one hospital area, such as surgery or respiratory therapy. However, the most common practice is to sterilize in a centralized location.
The centralized location department usually has four functional areas: decontamination, preparation and packaging, sterilization, and storage. The physical layout depends on the size of the hospital. It is recommended that decontamination is performed in a separate room as an infection control area. The other activities can be performed either in different rooms or in the same room. It just depends on the layout of the hospital building.
The number of workers in the sterilization departments can range from four or more, depending on the hospital's size. Usually, one worker on each shift should be responsible for operating both the steam and EtO sterilizers. One or two workers should prepare and package the items. A couple of workers should be assigned to decontaminate the incoming soiled items. The sterilizer operator should also help in preparing and packaging the items when they are not operating the sterilizers.
Knowledge Check Choose the best answer for the question.
1-10. Where should decontamination be performed in a healthcare facility?
You forgot to answer the question!