After a study in December showed wrapped instrument trays were better than rigid containers at preventing bacteria from getting into sterilized trays, a group of experts worked with Halyard Health to publish a consensus statement on maintaining sterility of surgery trays.
They made the following two recommendations for hospital employees working with sterile packaging systems.
1. Follow all instructions for use for the maintenance and handling of sterile packaging systems and undergo training to find signs of defective rigid sterilization containers. Additionally, workers should conduct tests of the rigid containers to make sure that lids fit into the base of the container, the gaskets and filters are in place and the containers have no damage or dents.
2. Foster collaboration between the sterile processing department, infection preventionists and other hospital departments. According to the experts, the study "demonstrates the importance of collaboration between SPDs and infection preventionists in improving patient safety and reducing risk for [surgical site infections]."
The six experts involved in the panel and subsequent consensus statement were:
- Mark Duro, director of sterile processing operations at New England Baptist Hospital in Boston
- Sharon Greene-Golden, manager of sterile processing at Adventist HealthCare Shady Grove Medical Center in Rockville, Md.
- William Jarvis, MD, former acting director of the CDC's Hospital Infections Program and president and co-founder of Jason and Jarvis Associates
- Peg Luebbert, an infection preventionist and president and founder of Healthcare Interventions
- Rose Seavey, RN, president and CEO of Seavey Healthcare Consulting
- Harry Shaffer, president of Sterilization Consulting Services
Find more information on the report here.