AAMI

Whether a material is compatible with different sterilization methods is a serious concern for medical device manufacturers and sterile processing professionals. After all, cleaning or sterilization should not damage medical products. Newly updated AAMI guidance...

Regulatory and safety concerns are a pressing issue for hospital employees who use ethylene oxide (EO) to sterilize medical devices. The Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) addresses these concerns with an update to its primary guidance on chemical sterilization and high-level disinfection in health care facilities.

Many healthcare organizations and patients have been focused on endoscope processing for quite a while now. However, the processing of ultrasound probes and dilators has often been overlooked.

A key point for healthcare facilities is to avoid letting soils dry on contaminated devices during transport. This impacts not only the cleaning process but also the longevity of medical devices. Keeping these soils from drying is crucial to maintaining device integrity and ensuring patient safety. 

Right now, pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical manufacturers often rely on outdated best practices related to radiation sterilization and routine control of single-use systems. Fortunately, there is new industry guidance that will help streamline these processes.

Nearly one-third of sterile processing departments (SPDs) reported not having a tracking system in place to manage the sterilization process, according to preliminary results of a research project called “What Counts in Sterile Processing Departments: Measuring Defects and Responses.”