The Principles of Medical Device Decontamination

It is important to understand that decontamination is not just about the process itself, it is also about the where, when, who, and how decontamination is undertaken. Some examples of the different elements of decontamination include:

• The environment • Buildings / services • Water systems • Ward and department patient equipment • Medical equipment • Medical devices of all categories

These all require different approaches to decontamination and are all important in infection prevention and control. They involve different groups of staff and a variety of training requirements. A holistic approach is vital in ensuring decontamination is carried out for any of the above elements to minimise the overall risk to patients, staff and visitors. Any one of these elements not effectively decontaminated pose an infection risk to patients and staff. We have confirmed previously that wherever possible, decontamination of medical devices, should take place centrally and in dedicated facilities, for example sterile service departments, for surgical instruments and accessories and Endoscopy units for flexible scopes. However, there are some devices that do not lend themselves, nor are compatible with, the decontamination processes available in centralised facilities, that require decontaminating within wards and departments, for example a variety of ultrasound probes. The medical device manufacturers Instructions (IFUs) will provide compatibility information upon which local decontamination procedures should be based. Manufacturers should be approached to provide routine and refreshers staff training. The main challenge for ward and department decontamination is usually identifying a dedicated area to ensure segregation of clean and dirty processing. A locally generated standard operating procedure (SOP) will help describe the method adopted which can form the basis of a staff training. Probe decontamination guidance is contained in the Society of Radiographers 1 and is also included in the Welsh HTM 2

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