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S T E R I L I Z A T I O N
(Pa.) General Hospital, summed it up neatly
when she said, "Immediate-use sterilization is
an effective way to quickly get instruments
back into the hands of physicians when — and
only when — emergent situations prevent the
possibility of full reprocessing cycles."
Fifteen of the 18 facility managers we questioned last month say they only flash-sterilize
in an emergency. "We flash only for instruments that are dropped," says Maureen
Lamson, RN, nurse administrator at the
Annapolis (Md.) ENT Surgery Center. "Only if
surgeons bring equipment with them," says a
hospital OR manager. For Karen Tyre, RN,
CNOR, perioperative educator at the
Southeast Georgia Health System in
Brunswick, Ga., flashing is an administrative
burden. "If we flash, we have to fill out an
event report explaining why," she says.
Sometimes flashing is unavoidable, such as
when several of the same types of cases are
stacked consecutively on the schedule and
you don't have enough instrument trays. Then
there are times when an instrument literally
can't take the heat of a full cycle. Take, for
example, the tonometer ophthalmologists use
to measure intraocular pressure before they
take an intraoperative measurement with an
ORA (Optiwave Refractive Analysis) system
to determine the precise IOL implant power
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