General Principles and Best Practices for Cleaning, Disinfection and Sterilization

Vocabulary flashcards covering core terms, classifications, environmental parameters, and best practices for medical device cleaning, disinfection, and sterilization.

Reprocessing

The sequence of steps (such as cleaning, disinfection, and sterilization) performed to prepare used medical equipment and devices for subsequent safe use.

Multidisciplinary Reprocessing Committee

A decision-making body that oversees equipment reprocessing, including representatives from purchasing, reprocessing, maintenance, infection prevention and control, occupational health and safety, and end-users.

Prion

An infectious protein fragment that causes Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) and is resistant to most standard decontamination and reprocessing methods.

Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD) Instrument Management

A procedure requiring surgical instruments exposed to high-risk neurological and ocular tissue from at-risk patients to be quarantined separately after use and ideally disposed of by incineration upon confirmed diagnosis.

Ceiling Exposure Value (CEV)

Under the Occupational Health and Safety Act, the maximum airborne concentration of a chemical agent (such as glutaraldehyde) to which a worker may be exposed at any time.

Negative Pressure Airflow (in Reprocessing)

The directional airflow maintained in soiled decontamination areas to prevent contaminants and airborne microorganisms from escaping into adjacent areas.

Positive Pressure Airflow (in Reprocessing)

The directional airflow maintained in clean reprocessing and sterile storage areas to prevent external airborne contaminants from entering.

Loaned Medical Equipment/Devices

Shared or borrowed equipment that ideally must be received at least 24 hours prior to use for inventory, inspection, and full reprocessing, and whose use is strongly discouraged in neurosurgery.

Critical Equipment/Device

Under Spaulding's classification, any device that penetrates sterile tissues or enters the vascular system (e.g., surgical instruments, implants, biopsy tools), requiring cleaning followed by sterilization.

Semicritical Equipment/Device

Under Spaulding's classification, any device that contacts non-intact skin or intact mucous membranes without penetration (e.g., respiratory therapy equipment, tonometers), requiring cleaning followed by high-level disinfection at minimum.

Noncritical Equipment/Device

Under Spaulding's classification, any device touching only intact skin or having no direct patient contact (e.g., ECG machines, pulse oximeters, bedpans), requiring cleaning followed by low-level disinfection or cleaning alone.

Spaulding Discrepancy Rule

The rule dictating that if a conflict exists between the manufacturer's suggested reprocessing instructions and Spaulding's criteria based on intended patient contact, the higher level of disinfection or sterilization must be used.

Environmental Cleaning Sequence

The directional progression of environmental cleaning in decontamination areas: moving from clean to soiled areas, high to low surfaces (top of walls to floor), and least contaminated to most contaminated areas.

Bioburden

The microbial and organic load (such as blood or body fluids) on an item's surface that can inactivate chemical disinfectants and must be thoroughly removed by cleaning prior to high-level disinfection or sterilization.

Chemical Test Strips

Diagnostic strip indicators used to confirm that high-level liquid chemical disinfectants meet minimum effective concentration standards prior to item immersion.

Routine Practices (Reprocessing Areas)

Mandated workplace practices that require hand hygiene, PPE use, Hepatitis B immunization, and the strict prohibition of eating, drinking, smoking, cosmetics, and jewelry in reprocessing areas.