The Prince of Asturias Hospital improves the process of sterilization of the instruments

Madrid, 2011-September the use of techniques of asepsis and antisepsis is essential in the health sector. The reform of the Central of sterilization of the Hospital Universitario Prince of Asturias, in Alcalá de Henares, includes strategies that improve patient safety.All the material is previously cleaned through a wash of drag, with lower possible manipulation, for subsequent manual or mechanical cleaning and drying, according to the instruments to be processed.

The Central of sterilization of the University Hospital, Prince of Asturias – with an area of 510 m2 – has processed since its reform in February 2010 a total of 113.079 boxes of instruments for surgical block, consultations, hospitalization and textiles.

In the area of laundering dirty material from the surgical block (which has direct connection to reduce the journey that performs material from the operating room) is harvested and processed dirty instrumentation units and hospital services. This area has a wash tunnel, a washing machine termodesinfectadora machine guns of compressed air and water pressure, ultrasonic, two batteries of different sizes for drag and manual washing washing and trays of different sizes to prepare material for washing and disinfection, among other teams.

Preparation of materials according to their level of asepsis

In the area of preparation is revised, prepare and/or packaged units and services and surgical material. It has four esterilizadores-autoclaves of steam (two of 676 litres and two 250 liters), two selladoras-fechadoras for packing or packaging loose instrumentation and the apparatus necessary for process instrumentation, including that used for the quality and safety controls.

Steam autoclave destroys all forms of microbial, including spores, and is a method of effective sterilization, safe, quick and economic. At 134 ° C sterilised surgical instruments of heat-resistant stainless steel and textile materials. For other types of instruments (laparoscopias, accessories of respirators of UCI and anesthesia, bandages, cables, engines …) used cycles with temperatures of 132 ° C or 121 ° C. Not all materials have the same tolerance to sterilisation, some deteriorate with steam at high temperatures and require a special thermal process.

In the technical area prepare teams of different techniques (surgical, Parthian, UCI …) and other textile materials (towels, bathrobes, sheets …) for their sterilization account with a selladora-fechadora for packaging material. The sterile material area has conditions of temperature and humidity to ensure that you download and place the material coming out of the autoclave by specialties. The Central of sterilization communicates directly with the surgical block, from which comes most of the material to sterilize, through two circuits, one for dirty instruments and one for the clean.

In the area of ethylene oxide sterilizers it sterilised in an autoclave at low temperature (54 ° C). This gas is very effective to sterilize materials termosensibles that do not support steam sterilization; due to its characteristics, the sterilizers are located in a room with special installation isolated security, independent ventilation, warning alarms controlled in remote and detectors of environmental gas levels.

Quality control

The area of Control oversees the production of the central hospital and the Integral Center for the diagnosis and treatment Francisco Díaz (CIDIT), the Centre of Alcalá de Henares, dependent on hospital specialties. The CDIT has operating rooms that require sterile material and from the central controls the external process of installed there. In any process of sterilization, it is essential to carry out checks to ensure proper sterilization, in other words, the destruction of all microorganisms. Check them before their storage and/or distribution.