Uphill grime: process improvement in surgical instrument cleaning

After its investigation of cross-contamination from arthroscopic shavers, the US Food and Drug Administration issued an alert to hospitals about medical device reprocessing methods. In response to this, a team of risk management and instrument room personnel at a university hospital undertook a project that tested the manufacturer's recommended cleaning methods for surgical instruments with the objective of determining the efficacy of automated instrument reprocessing and identifying a process that would produce a verifiably clean instrument after the cleaning process is performed. The quality improvement project focused on suction tips because they are used in most surgical procedures, are exposed to high levels of organic debris, and are difficult to clean. A variety of suction tips were cleaned and tested with a variety of processes and products to determine best instrument cleaning practices. Results of the project were eye-opening--debris was found where debris should not be, and the manufacturer's recommended cleaning methods--the current practices-were not effective.