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Background
Invasive procedures are routinely done in the outpatient physician office setting.
Outpatient physician offices are often licensed for business occupancy and are not
required to have accreditation, which limits health care regulatory requirements and
mandated reporting. Furthermore, physician office staff often do not have the training
or background education for proper instrument reprocessing. A potential risk of performing
invasive procedures in the outpatient physician office setting include improperly
sterilized or disinfected equipment and instruments, and the transmission of infectious
pathogens to patients. The objective of this study was to improve sterilization processes
and compliance with Center for Disease Control recommendations.
Methods
We conducted a pilot study at 13 outpatient physician offices that perform reprocessing
of surgical instruments and equipment over the course of 1 year. A comprehensive tracer
audit tool was developed to assess the level of compliance with Center for Disease
Control (CDC) recommendations for sterilization and high-level disinfection in the
outpatient physician office setting. A list of approved reprocessing supplies was
created to standardize the process. Medical assistants and licensed vocational nurses
who were responsible for performing sterilization received comprehensive education
from a sterile processing educator. Their reprocessing skills were validated during
a follow up visit that included a competency.
Results
Sterilization practices were improved as a result of this study and were demonstrated
by competency validation and improved compliance scores on the trace audits at all
13 offices.
Conclusions
This study found that a comprehensive education program did improve compliance on
sterilization processes in the outpatient physician offices which was demonstrated
as by competency validation and increased compliance scores on the tracer audits at
all offices. The improved sterilization processes have reduced the risk of infection
and exposure to infectious pathogens in addition to reducing risk for the organization.
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Copyright
© 2022 Published by Elsevier Inc.
