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What Will the OR of the Future Look Like? - July 2014 - Subscribe to Outpatient Surgery Magazine

Outpatient Surgery Magazine, providing current information on Surgical Services, Surgical Facility Administration, Outpatient Surgery News and Trends, OR Excellence and more.

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O U T P AT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E | J U LY 2 0 1 4 R ule No. 1 when describing the various steam sterilization cycles used to process items not intended to be stored for later use: "Flash steriliza- tion" is out. "Immediate-use steam ster- ilization" is in. The term "flash," which arose out of the unwrapped device's abbreviated time of exposure, has given way to "immediate use," which is the shortest possible time between a sterilized item's removal from the steriliz- er and its aseptic transfer to the sterile field. Semantics aside, there's still much confusion about the proper way to sterilize an item during the procedure for which it is to be used. We hope this 10-question quiz clears things up for you and your staff. 1. Can we still call it "flash sterilization?" No. "Flash sterilization" has been used to describe steam sterilization cycles where unwrapped medical instru- ments were subjected to an abbreviated steam exposure time and then used promptly after cycle S T E R I L I Z A T I O N Do's and don'ts for when you need that item right away. Byron L. Burlingame, MS, RN, BSN, CNOR | Denver, Colo. Can You Pass Our Immediate- Use Steam Sterilization Quiz OSE_1407_part2_Layout 1 7/3/14 8:49 AM Page 50

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