What quality programs are important for sterile processing to implement to promote infection prevention?
Quality programs should include employee competency and ongoing educational programs and measuring the sterilization process and sterilizer performance. They also should include documentation procedures to verify sterility and provide trending data that will identify opportunities for improvement. Employees who are highly trained in the sterilization process will maintain employee safety and minimize the possibility of operator error that may lead to unsterile instrumentation and subsequent SSIs. Ongoing continuing education and certification programs serve to establish high standards within the department. Competencies should be performed annually and documented for use during performance evaluations and accreditation processes. Daily assessment of sterilizer performance is essential to ensure that proper instrumentation sterilization is occurring and that patient safety is maintained. These quality parameters include monitoring the process with mechanical, chemical and biological ind
