Instrumental in clean practices

摘要

The effective cleaning and sterilisation of reusable surgical instruments between operations is essential in reducing the risk of cross infection. In any one year approximately 6.5m surgical procedures take place and this figure is growing. However, recent estimates suggest that almost three times as many people die from hospital infections as are killed on the roads each year.rnReused surgical instruments from such procedures have been implicated in transmitting infection. In September 1999, following concerns surrounding the theoretical transmission of vCJD, the UKrnDepartment of Health (DoH) commissioned a survey of the decontamination of surgical instruments in a number of National Health Service (NHS) hospitals, as well as private and voluntary organisations and general medical practices in England.