How to disinfect reusable medical devices

Reusable medical devices are instruments that can be reused by health care professionals. For example, surgical forceps, stethoscopes, endoscopes, etc. Reusable surgical instruments are of different shapes and sizes. After being used ones they become contaminated with microorganisms. To avoid the risk due to contamination, they go through reprocessing. They are cleaned and disinfected. They have expensive components that must be disinfected and sterilized delicately. This process is vital to ensure the safety of patients.

The process to eliminate pathogenic microorganisms from reusable medical devices is termed disinfection. Various liquid chemicals and methods of wet pasteurization are used to disinfect surgical instruments. The process of disinfection makes the reusable surgical instruments safe to use again. The efficacy of the process of disinfection can be affected by various variables which might limit or at times nullify the efficacy. Various factors that affect the efficacy of the process include:

• The level of microbial contamination
• Physical nature of the device
• The exposure time of the device to the germicide used
• The concentration of the used germicide
• The complexity of the device
• The pH of the disinfection agent

Before the decontamination agents are selected, one must understand the terms that are used in the product’s description. The labels ended with ‘cide’ or ‘cidal’ are used to describe the products used for killing action. For example, germs are killed by germicide. Fungicide is used to kill the fungus. Bactericides are used to kill bacteria. When disinfectants are being select, an individual should check if there is a balance between the efficacy of germicides and user safety. They should be non-toxic and non-sensitizing. This will ensure that they won’t damage the environment when disposed of.