#centralsterile

[contedkcc]

Call to register 718 368-5050 #centralsteriletech #centralsterile (at Kingsborough Continuing Education) https://www.instagram.com/p/CloLNvsusvU/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[contedkcc]

Join now by calling 718 368-5050 or email us at [email protected]. #centralsterile #pct2022 #patiencare (at Kingsborough Continuing Education) https://www.instagram.com/p/CiPrV_juOV_/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[contedkcc]

Great Hybrid Healthcare courses, join our class, registration is going on now, call 718 368-5052 or email us at [email protected] #phlebotomist #phlebotomytechnician #centralsterile #medicalofficeassistant #patientcare #patientcaretech (at Continuing Education at Kingsborough Community College) https://www.instagram.com/p/CXaA0e1OkWV/?utm_medium=tumblr

[contedkcc]

Hybrid Healthcare courses, registration is going on now. Call 718 368-5052 or email us at [email protected] #phlebotomist #phlebotomytechnician #ekgtechnician #cna #centralsterile #centralsteriletech #healthcarecareers #healthcareprofessional (at Continuing Education at Kingsborough Community College) https://www.instagram.com/p/CLMe613li15/?igshid=fmb1nq9hxprq

[leadspd-blog]

How do you keep yourself and your team safe?⠀ ⠀ Sterile Processing is high risk work. It is hard physically demanding work requiring an extreme attention to detail/mental focus. There’s no room for “auto pilot” or “drift”.⠀ ⠀ An added risk is that we have to clean sharps like scissors, hooks, towel clips and trocars. This risk is compounded when we receive knife blades and suture needles hidden in our trays. ⠀ ⠀ Early in my career I was cut by a towel clip that had been haphazardly thrown open in the bottom of a case cart. I went to pull out a container lid and my hand was cut by this hidden biohazardous sharp.⠀ ⠀ Cut resistant gloves, training, partnerships with the OR staff?⠀ ⠀ How do you keep yourself and your SPD staff safe?⠀ ⠀ #leadspd #calispd #spd #centralsterile #sterileprocessing #cssd #crcst #ishcsmm #cbspd #aami #aorn #surgery #scopes #wefightdirty #sharps #biohazard #safe #injury https://www.instagram.com/p/B5C9gYsBIqY/?igshid=b86dkj3qx1q7

[wmc-iv-blog]

Once the sterilization process has been completed, the trays of equipment are then stored in inventory until they are ready to be used for a procedure.  The inventory is organized by service, so kits that are used for the same or similar procedures are grouped close to each other.  The physicians create the inventory makeup of the kits, so everything they need to complete the procedure is in the kit.  I even got to see some of the carts leaving the inventory and being taken up to the hospital for procedures.  

Above is a cart of sterilized equipment that will be used in an upcoming procedure.

[wmc-iv-blog]

As a part of my tour through Central Sterile, I got to follow a set of equipment as it went through the process of being cleaned and sterilized.  As I began the tour, we started in the decontamination room. When a medical procedure is finished, the tools and equipment used are are sent down to the decontamination room in trays transported on carts.  When the decontamination technicians receive the equipment trays, they have to scrub all of the equipment down to remove what remained from the medical procedure.  After they are scrubbed down, they are placed in a machine, which washes them with a water and soap solution.  At this point, the trays and carts that hold the equipment are washed as well in the walk in dishwasher-like machines.  The washers that the trays and equipment are cleaned in are in the walls between the 2 rooms and can be accessed from each room so there is no direct contact between the rooms.  I was the only thing allowed to go to both rooms without being washed!

[wmc-iv-blog]

For my most recent series of “INTERNal View” posts, I visited the Central Sterile Department at Westchester Medical Center.  At Central Sterile, they are responsible for making sure that all for the equipment used in hospital procedures are complete kits, and are sterile.  Prior to my internship, I had no idea that this was such a big department!  I knew that the equipment that the doctors use had to be cleaned; I was unaware of how large and important the entire department was, though.  They have a lot of work to do each day with over 9,000 instrument trays.  To ensure that items that have already been cleaned - stay clean, Central Sterile is broken up into 2 different rooms, decontamination and the prep room.  And they take their job seriously! I had to scrub up and put a cover over my beard even to be allowed in this place!

Above you can see a picture of me in scrubs and a picture of one of the machines used to sterilize equipment.