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R E P R O C E S S I N G
permitted, and how to properly perform them when they are. Let's clear up that confusion.
1 Pick your spots
My hospital has 25 operating rooms, including a dedicated orthopedic center where 30 surgeons operate. Loaner instrumentation and surgeon-specific devices are constantly moving in and out of the facility. It's a lot to manage in the sterile processing department, and sometimes has us resorting to immediate-use sterilization — despite even the best pre-planning. For example, we might not have enough of the custom-made forceps a surgeon needs for every case. In that instance, immediate-use sterilization is an option. If you face similar challenges, and you can't avoid immediate-use sterilization cycles, follow the national standards (see "What the Guidelines Say" on page 48). Try to flash less than 4% of your monthly reprocessing volume. Flashing should never be a routine practice.
FIRST STEP You can't properly sterilize instruments without first properly cleaning them.
