Disinfection and Sterilization in Health Care Facilities

All invasive procedures involve contact by a medical device or surgical instrument with a patient ’s sterile tissue or mucous membranes. The level of disinfection is dependent on the intended use of the object: critical, semicritical, or noncritical. New issues and practices can affect the risk of infection associated with devices and surfaces. Endoscopes continue to represent a nosocomial haz ard. The contaminated surface environment in hospital rooms is important in the transmission of health care–associated pathogens. Thoroughness of cleaning must be monitored and no-touch room decontamination technology should be. In general, emerging pathogens are susceptible to currently available disinfectants.
Source: Infectious Diseases Clinics of North America - Category: Infectious Diseases Authors: Source Type: research