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Determining Viral Disinfection Efficacy of Hot Water Laundering

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Published on: June 21, 2022

Disinfection, sterilization, and antisepsis: An overview.

William A Rutala¹, David J Weber²

¹Division of Infectious Diseases, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC.

American Journal of Infection Control

|June 1, 2019

Summary

Medical devices require appropriate cleaning, disinfection, or sterilization based on their use to prevent infections. Proper protocols, including hand hygiene with antiseptics, are crucial for patient safety during invasive procedures.

Keywords:

Antisepsis Disinfection Sterilization

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Area of Science:

Infection Prevention and Control
Medical Device Reprocessing
Healthcare Epidemiology

Background:

Invasive procedures necessitate medical devices contacting sterile tissues or mucous membranes.
The risk of infection transmission is linked to the level of microbial contamination on medical devices.
Proper reprocessing of medical devices is essential for patient safety in healthcare settings.

Purpose of the Study:

To outline the principles of medical device reprocessing.
To define the different levels of disinfection and sterilization required for medical items.
To emphasize the role of cleaning and antiseptics in infection prevention.

Main Methods:

Classification of medical items into critical, semicritical, and noncritical categories based on contact with patient tissues.
Defining the required reprocessing methods (sterilization, high-level disinfection, low-level disinfection) for each category.
Highlighting the prerequisite of cleaning before disinfection or sterilization.

Main Results:

Critical items require sterilization, semicritical items require high-level disinfection, and noncritical items require low-level disinfection.
Cleaning is a mandatory preliminary step for high-level disinfection and sterilization.
Antiseptics play a vital role in hand hygiene, surgical antisepsis, and preoperative skin preparation.

Conclusions:

Adherence to specific reprocessing standards for medical devices is critical for preventing healthcare-associated infections.
A multi-faceted approach, including device reprocessing and proper use of antiseptics, is fundamental to infection control.
Understanding the categorization of medical items ensures appropriate disinfection and sterilization protocols are implemented.