The influence of environmental temperature and air humidity on the maintenance of sterility of surgical instruments sterilized in different wraps

摘要

To make reuse of surgical instruments possible, reprocessing should include careful cleaning, rigorous inspection, appropriate packaging, and sterilization. After completion of these steps, appropriate storage of the materials is critical to maintaining sterility. Many recommendations exist for the storage of sterile instruments (Table I),1'6 but justification supporting these recommendations is lacking. Suggested values for temperature and air humidity vary widely.