Principles and Design Considerations for Sterile Processing

When you eat at a restaurant, do you ever consider how your dishes got washed?  Did a teenager wash them by hand at the rate of $7.75 per hour?  Wouldn't you rather have them washed in a dishwasher?  Would you feel like they had been sterilized if they had been in a dishwasher?

When the instruments in a hospital need cleaning, they usually go down to the basement to the central sterile processing room.  The employees who clean these instruments are usually paid a little over minimum wage.  They have to cover every inch of themselves to be protected from all the infectious diseases they are in contact with every day.  This is made even more difficult by the high temperatures in the sterilizing room since hot water is used to clean the instruments.  Sometimes the surgical instruments are cleaned with soap and hot water....only.  Hmmm.  Give me a dishwasher any day.

The American Institute of Architects in Atlanta gave a free CEU/Workshop last week at the offices of JE Dunn Construction in Dunwoody.  Neill Moore, Business Development Director at Getinge USA, was the speaker.  Mr. Moore introduced us to Getinge's sterile processing units, which work like dishwashers at a restaurant, only they save lives.

http://wefixitrt.wix.com

Sterile processing equipment is very expensive, but when you consider the penalties a hospital faces when they have a high rate of hospital acquired infections (HAIs), they will pay for themselves in the long run.  Of course, the first consideration is the patient, but too many hospitals are struggling with finances these days.  

http://www.getinge.com

Perhaps the insurance companies should consider investing in some sterile processing equipment in hospitals.  After all,  they stand to gain as much as the hospitals by having up to date equipment installed in every hospital.  Hey...and let's get those workers some windows and a raise PLEASE!