Course Description
The goal of this course content is to enhance your understanding of the importance of how instruments are manufactured, cleaned, inspected, and their function. Ultimately, these are key foundational factors in understanding the role of instrumentation and how it relates to patient safety. Approximately 1.7 million Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAIs) occur in U.S. hospitals each year, resulting in 99,000 deaths and an estimated $20 billion in healthcare costs. There are approximately 157,000 surgical site infections. Proper care and handling of Instrumentation plays a major role in preventing infections. This knowledge will give sterile processing workers a better understanding of surgical-grade instruments, and how to properly prepare instruments for surgery.
Learning Objectives
Upon completion of the course, the learner will be able to:
- Understand the history and origins of instrumentation
- Explain the forging process of surgical-grade stainless steel
- Appreciate the practical use of the ASTM Standards for instrumentation
- Explain proper care and handling of instruments according to manufacturers' IFUs
- Review techniques for instrument decontamination and cleaning
- Understand the practical use of individual surgical instruments
- Discuss proper Instrument preparation, packaging and sterilization
Intended Audience
This educational activity was developed for central sterile technicians, sterile processing, and nursing professionals.
CE Information
This course is approved for 1.0 contact hours by the Certification Board for Sterile Processing and Distribution, Inc. (CBSPD), the Healthcare Sterile Processing Association (HSPA), and the Florida and California State Boards of Nursing.
Course Authors
This course was written by Hassan Bilal, CST, CRCST.
Hassan is a consultant, author, and educator. He has over 35 years of teaching and managing clinical experiences in the operating room and sterile processing settings. He is also a voting member for two standards committees (i.e., AAMI and ASTM).