WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU CAN’T STERILIZE IT?

The Reusable Medical Device Matrix

Abstract

Health Canada recommends that hospitals should have procedures in place to ensure Reusable Medical Devices (RMD) are cleaned, disinfected and sterilized according to the manufacturer’s instructions. For the purpose of this paper, reusable medical devices will be referred to as RMDs and include all instrumentation and devices that the Central Processing Department (CPD) resterilizes for use in the hospital.

Patient safety in surgery begins in CPD. Manufacturer recommendations for the decontamination and sterilization of surgical instrumentation are of utmost importance to Operating Room (OR) and CPD staff. With recommendations that are unclear, nonspecific or unattainable there was a need to define what it means institutionally to meet standards and provide safe patient care while continuing to support the advancement of surgical technology.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the challenges faced by one multisite organization (The University Health Network) in managing the sterilization of surgical instrumentation. The development of The Guidance Matrix by the network’s interprofessional Reusable Medical Device (RMD) Committee, will be discussed along with information about the elements of this tool and an illustration of how it is used. The key benefits of The Guidance Matrix, including how its use has facilitated transparent decision-making, communication and collaboration regarding sterilization issues across the sites, will be described.