Surgical instruments are incredibly important for hospitals around the country. They represent a significant investment hospitals make to take care of their patients. As such, they must always be maintained in good working order. Better care and maintenance leads to better patient care as well as cost savings by increasing the tools’ lifespan.

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Care & Maintenance of
Surgical Instruments

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Surgical instruments are incredibly important for hospitals and health
centers around the country. As tools that are used day in and day out,
they represent a significant investment hospitals must make to take
care of their patients.
Surgical instruments must be maintained in good working order at all
times. This leads to better patient care as well as cost savings by
increasing the tools’ lifespan.
Care & Maintenance of
Surgical Instruments

3. Proper cleaning and reprocessing of
instruments prevents contamination in the
operating room. These tasks also ensure
that no bioburden is left on the
instruments. For example, precleaning
with enzymatic spray will remove blood
and bodily fluids that would otherwise
result in staining and rapid deterioration.
The sterilization of surgical instruments
will complete the cleaning and
reprocessing process.
https://surgical-solutions.com
Cleaning & Reprocessing

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Inspection
Immediately following a thorough cleaning and reprocessing process,
a visual inspection is necessary to ensure that everything has been
properly cleaned and decontaminated. You will need to check for:
• Cleanliness
• Corrosion
• Defects
• Missing parts or loose set pins
• Proper alignment
• Smooth cutting edges

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Testing
After a visual inspection, it is best to
test instruments and their
functionality. Each surgical
instrument comes with specific uses,
meaning that each instrument will
need its own function test protocol
to ensure proper working order.

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Handling & Storage
Many surgical instruments are delicate, for
instance those used in ophthalmology, and
require utmost care in handling and
storage. This minimizes both breakage and
contamination. For example, an
endoscope must be properly stored
vertically in a dry environment after
endoscope reprocessing to prevent
bacterial growth that can lead to bacterial
transmission and nosocomial infection.

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Surgical Instrument Repair
Due to the normal wear and tear of use, even the best cared-for surgical
instruments will need to be repaired or serviced at some point of their life. This is
especially true if the instruments are frequently used. Some instruments that are
used daily may actually need to be refurbished once a year to preserve efficiency,
rather than simply maintaining them. For others, it is important to set up a
regular inspection schedule to ensure they are functioning properly.
If an instrument’s efficiency seem to be faltering, it is best to get it repaired
immediately rather than wait for it to stop working altogether. Even though such
an instrument may still function, it will not work to its full capacity, which may
lead to accidents. For the best results, surgical instruments can be sent to a
professional repair service, who will have the right tools and replacement parts.

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All medical centers need surgical instruments that are always
working to their full capacity. Any lapses in maintenance may
lead to inefficiencies that have the potential to affect the
whole organization. For instance, an improperly cleaned
instrument may lead to a surgical site infection (SSI) that
places a costly lawsuit in the hospital’s hands. The five tips
outlined can help prevent this from happening as well as
partnering with Surgical Solutions.
For more information,
please visit https://surgical-solutions.com