Preventing the spread of microorganisms and maintaining appropriate environments for clean and sterile items requires good self-management skills. Hygiene and adherence to dress code protocols are critical components of infection prevention in the CSSD.
• Hand Hygiene
Hand hygiene is a term that means either handwashing or using an approved antiseptic hand rub. Hand hygiene is considered the single most important factor in reducing infections.
• What Is The Importance of The Specific Attire In CSSD? And What Are The Serious Instructions to Follow?
The professionals in CSSD must wear attire specific for the area in which they work. This provides protection to the employee, patients and the public. Attire should be clean, provided by the facility, and not worn outside the facility. Specialists and technicians should take off their street clothing and shoes, and wear scrubs and shoes kept at the facility. In addition, make up and jewelry are not worn in the department because they can refuge microorganisms. One of the aspects that should be on focus, staff movement between dirty and clean areas is not possible without passing through a clothing change and hand wash area. Freshly laundered scrub attire should be changed daily or whenever it becomes visibly soiled or wet. Also, a clean, single use, low lint surgical head cover that confines all head hear except eyelashes and eyebrows should be worn in all areas in the department. Beards and mustaches should be covered with an approved cover to prevent facial hair from shedding onto the items being processed. Some of the points which should not be ignored is that, sturdy shoes with non-skid soles should be worn in the department and a cover gown/lab coat may be used to protect the scrub attire when leaving the department for another area of the same facility.
• Is There Anything Special About The Attire In The Decontamination Area?
All of the basic attire mentioned previously except the cover gown / lab coat, should be worn in the decontamination area. And All employee working in the decontamination area must comply with dress code requirements for PPE according to (OSHA) which includes:
– Gloves approved for the decontamination area. These gloves are thicker and have longer cuffs than examination gloves to protect the hands.
– Fluid repellent masks with visor eye shields or goggles to reduce the risk of microbes being transferred to the eye, nose and mouth.
– Fluid-resistant gown with long cuffed sleeves or jumpsuit to protect clothes and skin. Fluid-resistant materials will keep fluids away from the skin, while standard fabrics will absorb fluids allowing the skin beneath the fabric to become wet and contaminated.
– Shoe covers to protect regular shoes from becoming wet and contaminated during cleaning procedures.
• How to Manage The Environment to Prevent The Spread of Bacteria?
The first step maintaining environmental integrity is to control the traffic that enters and passes through the CSSD. The aforementioned dress codes apply to all who enter the CSSD. Department dress standards for visitors vary between facilities. In some facilities they must change into surgical scrubs; in other coveralls (worn over street clothes) are required. In fact, dress code requirements may change as CSSD specialists and technicians move from one area to another. So, areas that CSSD specialists and technicians routinely travel through may have three separate traffic control/dress code requirements:
Restricted Areas: where sterile surgical procedures are performed. Surgical scrub attire, hair coverings and masks are required in restricted areas. Those working within the sterile field (including surgeons, surgical technologists and nurses) are also required to wear a sterile surgical gown and gloves.
Semi-restricted Areas: these areas include peripheral support areas to the OR, CS clean assembly, and sterile storage areas. Surgical scrub attire and hair coverings are required in these areas.
Unrestricted Areas: these areas include normal traffic areas, such as hospital corridors, most offices, locker rooms and general public areas. Street clothes may be worn in this area.
• What Are The CSSD Environment Requirements?
The unit is used exclusively for reprocessing reusable medical devices, must be physically separated from other work areas and never used as a thoroughfare to other units. It requires unit access
due to the critical nature of this unit and the access must be restricted to authorized personnel and trained specialists. Also, the light is kept at a brightness and color balance for good working practices and visual examination of reusable medical devices. Over that, room temperature has to be controlled between 18-25°C (64-77°F) and kept at a relative humidity of (30-60 %) depending on the activities carried out in the area. Other important point is the air pressure. Air pressure is regulated to prevent cross contamination of airborne pathogens between each zone. A ventilation system is used to either exhaust air out of a room, creating negative air pressure as in decontamination area, or vent air into the room, creating positive air pressure as in IAP (Inspection, assembly and packaging) area and sterile area. In regarding to work surfaces, walls are smooth, non-shedding, water resistant and withstand frequent cleaning. And floors are a washable non-slip material and have no exposed seams or openings. Finally, all tables, workstations and shelving are made of easily cleanable materials with non-glare surfaces.
• CONCLUSION:
CSSD specialists and technicians work with items at all stages of the decontamination, sterilization, storage and distribution processes. So, every CSSD specialist and technician must appreciate the importance of infection control and prevention, and thoroughly understand their role in the process.