Provincial and national best practices for the medical device reprocessing (MDR) of reusable medical devices include the requirement that all health-care settings also have written policies and procedures for all aspects of MDR. In a community-based physician office, reprocessing reusable medical devices is accomplished using a table-top steam sterilizer (TTSS). In the event of a failure or breach during the steam sterilization process using a TTSS, registrants are expected to know what to do.
There are several ways a failure or breach could occur during the sterilization of reusable medical devices using a TTSS. It may be a failure related to setting selection, a mechanical issue with the TTSS, or a load of wet packaged instruments due to an overloaded sterilizer. Regardless of the reason, knowing how to handle the situation based on written policies and procedures is essential.
As POMDRA continues to work closely with community-based physician offices, several have requested support in the development of these documents. As a result, POMDRA has developed sample documents that clinics can use in developing their own policies and procedures for steam sterilization failure and recall.
The two sample documents have been posted on the POMDRA section of the College website:
- Steam Sterilization Failure and Recall Policy Sample
- Steam Sterilization Failure and Recall Checklist Sample
Registrants wishing to obtain PDF versions of these sample documents for their facility should contact pomdra@cpsbc.ca.