CSSD

Large autoclaves are essential to every hospital’s functionality. As we learned in our post about preventing the spread of infections in hospitals, the autoclave, also called a steam sterilizer...

Weston “Hank” Balch, director of Sterile Processing Operations at KentuckyOne Health, asserts in the following article that we are now living in the Age of Sterile Processing.

In recent years we have all seen the news articles and programs about problems with medical devices that were used on patients that were not adequately cleaned. Inadequate cleaning of medical devices is a complex issue that has many potential causes.

The CSSD, the Central Sterile Services Department, is the hospital’s central nervous system, where the battle against infection takes place. Here surgical instruments are readied for reuse after being decontaminated or sterilized (depending on usage and risk level).