How often do you change surgical instrument ID tape?
As long as the healthcare institution has approperate decontamination and cleaning practices in place, and the intagrety of the tape remains, it generally is not necessary to replace tape on surgical instrumentation. Nevertheless, throughout the working life of the instrument the tape may ware or become discolored from the sterilization process, in which case it would be necessary to replace the tape. Remember that sterility is not infinate, that is, it is based on an acceptable level or meeting certain criteria and adding anything to the sterile environment will affect this level. That said, I have worked at a 20 OR hospital for 8 years with about 1/8 of our instruments taped and it has not been an issue. Hope that helps.
