what is a sterile processing?

Infections acquired in hospital and other medical establishments are a bigrn threat to vulnerable patients. Sterile services technicianrn s ensure that medical devices including surgical instruments and equipmentrn needed for patient care are safe to use. The instruments may come fromrn operating theatres, clinics, accident and emergency departments and wards.

A technician may reprocess a range of different items, such as:

Surgical instruments used for specific operations.

• Instruments used in other clinical areas such as dental practices, endoscopy units and health centres.
• Larger and more technically complex items, such as incubators.

Tasks include:

• Collecting items for reprocessing.
• Undertaking the decontamination processes.
• Disassembling, inspecting and function testing and re-assemblingrn devices.
• Dismantling larger items, examining them under a microscope, andrn reassembling them after sterilisation.
• Operating key equipment such as washer disinfectors and sterilisers.
• Maintaining computerised tracking and traceability records of allrn devices.
• Distributing sterilised packs to users.

The work of sterile services staff is carried out to strict European andrn national standards in order to minimise the risk of cross-infection. A highrn level of health and safety protection is in place to safeguard staffrn working in this environment.

Technicians work in teams. They are responsible to the manager of thern sterile services department (sometimes known as the decontaminationrn service) and are an integral part of the healthcare team.

Sterile services technicians generally work 37 hours a week. In largerrn departments, staff provide services 24 hours a day, seven days a week, which means technicians may be involved in shift work. Part-time work isrn possible.