The Importance of Sterile Processing in Patient Care
Many patients attribute the care they receive in hospitals to physicians, nurses, aestheticians, and other well-known healthcare providers. However, there are a host of many other individuals who work behind the scene to ensure that the patients receive quality, safe and cost-effective care. Technicians who do sterile processing play a crucial role in keeping patients and doctors safe. Sterile processing entails washing and sterilizing procedural and surgical instruments. This paper explores the benefits that come with sterile processing as far as patient care is concerned.
Sterile processing is guided by existing knowledge pertaining to the development of various pathogens and fungi. For example, some pathogens die when subjected to certain conditions. It is for this reason that sterile processing technicians use a variety of methods, such as gas and chemical sterilizers and steam autoclaves to clean medical instruments and devices. These instruments are then processed, stored and delivered to healthcare facilities. Examples of instruments that need to be cleaned and sterilized include fiberoptic endoscopes, forceps, arthroscopic shavers, and knife handles. These items are expensive, which means that healthcare facilities cannot afford to discard them after only one time.
Healthcare providers use a variety of items and objects when they are caring for their patients. These objects may get contaminated with dangerous microbial life forms. The decontamination process aims at using chemical and physical processes to eradicate any harmful microbial life forms that may be present in objects used in healthcare settings.
The outcomes of using contaminated or dirty instruments on patients can be catastrophic. Suboptimal reprocessing involves medical instruments being returned to operating rooms and other sensitive departments such as ambulatory settings and catheterization with bone, human tissues and other organic materials. At the same time, sterile processing is pivotal in reducing harm sustained by patients while in hospitals. Each year, many patients suffer adverse outcomes after acquiring hospital-acquired infections. The hospital-acquired infections can be caused by fungal, viral and bacterial pathogens. These pathogens may affect the bloodstream or urinary tract infections, among other human systems. One way through which hospital-acquired infections occur is when contaminated devices are used on patients, especially in the operating rooms. From this course, I have learned that a significant proportion of surgical sites infections can be prevented. Surgical site infections are very common in hospitals. In some cases, these infections may be superficial. However, there are other situations in which surgical site infections are lethal when they involve internal organs or implanted materials.
Besides, the failure to properly clean and sterilize instruments may result in it failing while it is being used. For example, surgical instruments may break without even the physician knowing as a result of rusting. This means that a patient may end up retaining a metal part which may continue causing damage to crucial internal body parts for long. Also, it may result in corrosion and rusting of the device or instruments. Medical instruments are supposed to be precise and efficient. However, instruments that have rusted are not only inefficient but may spread infections to the patients.
In conclusion, this course has been very insightful, especially when it comes to how to facilitate patient safety. I was shocked to learn that patient may leave a healthcare facility with a condition that he or she did not have before hospitalization. The use of dirty and contaminated medical instruments may be catastrophic to some patients.