Gels can preserve tissue and bioburden under a tough to remove clear coating. Jurassic Park, the book and movie was based on the notion that mosquitos were so well persevered in amber that dinosaur DNA could be recovered after millions of years. Well, pre-cleaning gels work much the same way, after a short time a sticky skin forms on the gel, trapping the debris beneath and becoming virtually impervious to cleaning. Enter the pre-cleaning gel, easy to use, and convenient, made to prevent soil from drying onto used instruments; is it wet or just an illusion?

With soap operas, the absurd is common (long-lost identical twin, anyone?). In the SPD, you would expect concerns to be less outrageous, but it is wise to retain a degree of skepticism and a dose of critical thinking. Sometimes, what’s left unsaid—or undone—requires some serious investigation.

When I was a teenager, I didn’t know how to protect my skin from the sun.  I used a visor to capture the sun’s rays and baby oil to bronze and darken my skin to get a deep tan.  It was what all my friends did.

 “If you don't rinse your dishes after washing them, you'll still have food residue and bacteria on them. Plus, you've mixed the residue of ALL your dishes together. So if one of them had something bad on it, now they all do.” 

Before the advent of computers, everything was done on paper; there was simply no other choice. Computers were supposed to change that, with their interconnectivity and programs like Microsoft Office that allowed users to write and send documents digitally. However, the opposite proved to be true...

The Digital Revolution, also known as the Third Industrial Revolution, refers to the advancement of technology from analog electronics and mechanical devices to the digital technology available today...

The use of adhesives and stickers on containers and medical devices has become a potential problem. Issues with residue on devices have led to a surge in citations from The Joint Commission for facilities not properly removing adhesive labels and the associated residue...

Yesterday we updated our signature block to reflect the beginning of a new decade in the life of Case Medical. Given all the projects we are working on and the upgrades with new equipment on the manufacturing floor, I nearly forgot that this week is our 31st anniversary...

White residue on devices, sticky film on instruments, retained bioburden… Excessive use of chemicals can interfere with the processing of reusable devices. Some pre-treatment gels lock in soil, other cleaning agents are corrosive, and those used in cart washers may be simply too much, especially when drying or sheeting agents leave behind an organic film that can interfere with low temperature sterilization...

Each week we send a blog that has updated information about current issues and concerns relevant to healthcare professionals, specifically SPD, OR and Materials. Often our goal is to reinforce best practices, but today we would like you to reconsider a practice or “Sacred Cow” that can apply to other container systems, but not to our SteriTite containers...