Y
ou spray enzymatic cleaners on your
soiled instruments, but do you know
how these protein-based detergents
work and the role they play in your fight against biobur-
den? Enzymatic cleaners help prepare instruments and
endoscopes for cleaning and sterilization or high-level disinfection by
removing bodily fluids and tissue. They can be used as presoaks, dur-
ing manual cleaning or in the first stage of automatic cleaning (as in
ultrasonic washers or automated endoscope reprocessors).
By pre-cleaning, you're already exposing proteins, lipids and starch-
es to enzymes that can start breaking them down. Before an instru-
ment arrives in central sterile, an enzymatic solution should already
be in use. If not, gross soil could dry on the instrument, which then
requires rehydration before cleaning, a time-consuming process that
limits enzyme-soil contact time.
Instead, have staffers spray the instruments at the point of use with a
non-aerosol enzymatic solution. For an endoscope, staff must flush
J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 6 • O U T PA T I E N TS U R G E R Y. N E T • 6 9
Your Guide to Enzymatic Cleaners
• HEAD START Enzymes help
break down bioburden before
instruments arrive in central sterile.
A quick introduction to the science behind these bioburden-busters.
Peter Daigle
Farmington, Conn.
