Dear Collegues

I'm working in the ICU and I have been told not to keep instruments resterilized in our hospitals CSSD on the same shelf with single-use steril instruments. Is there any danger to contaminate these resterilized instruments?

Best regards
Ann

Dear Ann

The principle for storage sterile items is the same for items produced in CSSD & commercially items. Handled correctly they can be stored on the same shelf.
To avoid contamination it is essential how sterilized items are transported and handled in the hospital.
If you get your sterile medical devices from the Central Material Store or directly from external suppliers the store packs have to be wiped of from dust before opening. Then sterile items have to be removed from the store pack before entering the clean area e.g. the sterile storage room. Needless to say that the unit packs or the contents have to be inspected for cleanliness or damage.

Kind regards
Josy Holdener

I wanted to know what does the plastic sterilized bag supposed to look like after speculum have supposedly been sterilized? Also, is rust supposed to be anywhere on the metal speculum?
I recently observed a plastic bag with several brown spots inside of it where the supposedly sterile speculum was contained, is there a reason to worried if the speculum was used for vaginal examination?