My CSSD Friends, can I ask?

In Wards, Theatres and Clinics what type of autoclaves are used? What % of them are vacuum assisted and what % would meet new draft european standard?

I really much need to know, I am involved in setting up a new CSSD department there in Praha and I have very little guidance.

Thank you all.

Loxy

here in the UK there are a variety of machines used in local decontamination. Most of them are conventional non-vacuum machines. We do not use the draft standard for measuring compliance of vacuum-assisted machines as it only becomes useable once it is finally published. We have UK guidance documents for the purchase, validation and routine testing of vacuum transportable sterilizers. For permanently-fixed large gravity machines we make reference to HTM 2010. Other parts of Europe will probably use similar national procedures.

Hope this is helpful - best wishes from UK

Peter Hooper

Dear Loxy,

The answers you will get, will vary from country to country but basically you can say that the best procedure is to follow the European standard. Many of the European countries are still looking at their "old" national regulations before they decide to look at the European wide valid regulations. My hope is that some day there will be one European regulation and the people, involved with sterilisation, will now the national regulations from history books only. I suggest if you carefully study the EN 285 you will find all the answers. However in short the answer to you question is that a sufficient air removal, before the actual sterilisation phase starts, is necessary to achieve a temperature distribution within the steriliser. (including load) This is mayor important if you want to validate your steriliser according to the EN 554. There are, of course, many different ways to achieve this, but the most optimal way is to have vacuum facilities in your steriliser. If I look at the Dutch market I think the sterilisers equipped with a vacuum system will be very close to 100% for all applications.

I trust my answer is satisfactory to you but if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me by the EFHSS site or directly,


Best Regards,


Henk Ras.
SANAMIJ B.V - Rotterdam, The Netherlands.


www.sanamij.com