Product Description
When it comes to preventing infection, perioperative professionals are at a crossroads. From one direction, regulatory agencies including the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services are instituting more stringent rules holding healthcare facilities responsible for surgical-site infections. From another direction, facilities face limited supplies and increasing pressures to handle more cases and reduce OR turnover time.
"Flash sterilization is the Band-Aid facilities sometimes use, but flash sterilization may be associated with increased risk of infection to patients because of pressure on personnel to eliminate one or more steps in the cleaning and sterilization process. In the end, resorting to flash sterilization may cause the facility more cost and put patients at risk," said Sheila Mitchell, RN, BSN, MS, CNOR, perioperative nursing specialist in AORN's Center for Nursing Practice and clinical editor of the 2008 Recommended Practices for Sterilization in the Perioperative Practice Setting.