Infection Control Today에 2월 27일자로 올라온 글입니다.
IMS는 전세계 2,500 개의 의료기관에 수술 기구 등의 관리, 임상 컨설팅 등을 제공하며, 수술실과 연계되어 물품에 대한 관리, 관찰 등을 하는 곳이네요.
이곳에서 Sterile Processing Practice를 잘 수행하기 위한 팁을 내놓았습니다.
영문 사이트에 올렸다가 우리도 한번 훑어봐주면 좋을 것 같아서 한번 간단히 번역해봅니다.
1. Certification : 멸균 업무를 수행하는 technician 들이 지속적인 교육을 받아야 하며, 멸균 프로세스에 대한자격을 가져야 한다고 하네요.
2. Training : 새롭게 들여오는 기구이건, 지속적으로 사용하고 있는 기구이건 관련된 주기적인 교육이 이루어져야한다고 합니다. 물건을 새로 들여올때 교육받고 또 주기적으로 업데이트 된 내용을 알게 된다면 정말 좋겠네요.
3. Standard Operating Procedures: 세척,멸균,Reprocessing에 대한 정해진 가이드 라인이 제공되어야 한다고 합니다.
4. Equipment: 워셔, 브러쉬, 멸균기구 등이 주기적으로 관리되어지고, 필요시 교체 되어져야 한다고 합니다.
5. Problem Instruments :MIS(minimally invasive surgery/procedure)에 쓰이는 세척과 관리가 힘든 물품들이 효과적으로 세척, 멸균되어야 한다고 합니다.
6. Instrument Maintenance : 낡고 손상을 입은 물품들은 오염을 일으키는 주원인이라고 하네요. Repair provider(이는 생산업체도 될수 있고, 병원 의공과도 되겠네요)들이 주기적으로 물품들을 확인하고 관리해야한다고 하네요.
이 여섯가지 팁을 모두 따른다면 걱정할 필요없는 제대로 된 멸균 과정을 수행해 낼수 있을 것 같습니다.
우리나라의 현실과 어느 부분은 동떨어져있기도 하고, 어느 부분들은 이미 이루어지고 있기도 한것으로 보이네요.
여러분의 병원은 어떠신가요???
아래에 원본 첨부하고 원본 사이트 링크하겠습니다. IMS 웹사이트도 궁금하시면 들어가보세요.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
IMS Offers Steps to Help Facilities Ensure Sterile
Processing Practices are in Compliance
By Virgo Publishing.
To help ensure they are properly cleaning and sterilizing surgical and endoscopic equipment, hospitals should regularly have their sterile processing procedures externally audited, according to experts with IMS, which manages and evaluates sterile processing departments for hundreds of hospitals nationwide.
This advice comes in light of a report released Feb. 22, 2012 suggesting a troubling rate of surgical instruments being used on patients while harboring blood and tissue traces from previous procedures. The report was released Wednesday by the Center for Public Integrity and NBC’s Today Show.
“A comprehensive risk assessment can help facilities verify they are in compliance with regulatory and industry standards, a concern not only for healthcare providers but patients,” says Tracey Rapp, director of staff development for IMS. “If there are problems, this type of audit provides clear recommendations for correcting them.”
Sharon Hadley, IMS’ vice president for clinical operations, offers six additional tips to help facilities ensure surgical and endoscopic equipment is clean:
1. Certification: Provide training and support to ensure that all sterile processing technicians are certified by either the Certification Board for Sterile Processing and Distribution, Inc. or the International Association of Healthcare Central Service Materiel Management.
2. Training: Provide regular training, as well as in-services on any new equipment that is purchased. “When a facility buys a new instrument, the sterile processing staff must be trained in the specific Instructions for Use for that device. This goes along with the periodic training that should be mandatory in sterile processing,” Hadley says.
3. Standard Operating Procedures: Sterile processing technicians should be provided comprehensive guidelines for cleaning, sterilizing, and reprocessing instruments and other equipment.
4. Equipment: Washers, brushes, and sterilizing equipment should be regularly inspected, properly maintained, and replaced as needed. Quality chemicals and other cleaning materials should be provided and used according to manufacturers’ instructions.
5. Problem Instruments: Rongeurs, cannulated and suction devices, and instruments used in minimally invasive procedures are among those that can be particularly difficult to clean, Hadley says. “Many of these devices can improve patient outcomes – so long as they are effectively cleaned and sterilized,” Hadley says. “If not, then the risk of infection increases, and that’s why training on these devices is so important.”
6. Instrument Maintenance: Worn or broken instruments can be more likely to harbor contaminants. Some repair providers, including IMS, provide periodic inspection of surgical equipment at no cost.
IMS provides surgical instrument and device management, as well as clinical consulting, for more than 2,500 healthcare facilities nationwide. IMS provides instrument and device inventory management; real-time online data and tools to track instruments, tissue and implants; restoration of instruments to manufacturers' performance standards; and on-location clinical experts to manage sterile processing and interface with the OR.