We have all been informed on the importance of washing our hands often and how to properly wash, rinse and when to use hand sanitizer. It seems like everywhere you turn you can find different soaps and solutions to clean individual items that you own. Not only for personal hygiene, but also different washing solutions for your car, or the soap for your dishes. There are even many different kinds of detergents you can buy to wash your clothes.
Not only are the detergents unique to one another, but depending on what you're washing, the proper temperature of the water can vary. It is similar in a healthcare facility, where different instruments and equipment require different cleaning solutions and a variance of specified water temperature.
Be sure that before you begin cleaning instruments, that you are reading the detergent manufacturer IFU and that you are communicating with your department the specific methods of cleaning the instruments being reprocessed.
Monitoring the correct amount of detergent, water and temperature will help ensure that your department's instruments are being properly cleaned.
Matthew Smith
Senior Manager of Marketing