Тема 17. ИЗГОТОВЛЕНИЕ ЗУБЧАТЫХ КОЛЕС

To Katherine Traland, a licensed veterinary technician, taking good care of surgical instruments makes sense.

“Your instruments are going to do what you need them to do. Scissors won’t work correctly if they’re dull; a clamp that does not close properly is going to cause problems,” says Traland.

Plus, Traland adds, her practice spends thousands of dollars annually to buy good instruments, “So you want them to last.” t takes only a few minutes daily to properly care for instruments.

Instrument Care

The most crucial step is to deal with instruments immediately after use. Even though instruments are made of stainless steel, that is misleading, instruments can and do stain if not handled properly. If you let blood dry on instruments, this can cause staining, and that leads to rusting, and that forces you to have to purchase new instruments prematurely.

Within 10 minutes after use, instruments should be rinsed under running water, to remove debris. If you can’t rinse them immediately, keep instruments from drying out by placing a wet towel on top of them. When you wash the instruments, take care to use a neutral pH cleanser. Never use dish soap, saline Chlorhexidine, surgical scrub or anything with a high chlorine content, because that will break down stainless steel and lead to spotting and corrosion.

Next, ultrasonic cleaning is optimal. Studies have shown that ultrasonic machines clean 16 times better than manual washing. And that means instruments work better and last longer. Surgical instruments have a lot of moving parts, a lot of hinged areas where dirt and debris can hide out, places that we just can’t clean by hand. Ultrasonic energy really blasts that dirt off the instruments. After 10 to 20 minutes in the ultrasonic cleaning machine, the instruments should be rinsed again, and then it’s time to dry them off, another crucial step. Rather than allowing instruments to air-dry – which can cause spotting and rusting — place each instrument on a clean towel and gently blot with another towel.

When the instruments are dry, spray each with a lubricant made exclusively for surgical instruments before sterilization. Lubrication will extend the life of your surgical instruments.