Kit cleaning - what do you do?

RE: Kit cleaning - what do you do?

Yolanda Jones — Wed, 29 Jun 2016 15:49:56 GMT

Are you a BVNA member? There's a brilliant webinar on the CPD area of the BVNA site at the moment, it's free if you're a member, £25 if not, I highly recommend it as I found out loads of things that I never knew after 20 years in practice! I definitely would not use fairy liquid as it can leave a film on the instruments, and use an enzymatic cleaner for all instruments. If you're doing that then you shouldn't need fairy liquid or hibiscrub as the enzymatic cleaner will take care of everything else. :) xx

RE: Kit cleaning - what do you do?

Holly Small — Wed, 29 Jun 2016 05:27:55 GMT

I was always told that using fairy liquid and/or hibiscrub can leave a "film" on the instruments?!?!

RE: Kit cleaning - what do you do?

Vari Thomson — Fri, 06 May 2016 16:54:23 GMT

we got our protocol from veterinary instrumentation. its quite long but has helped maintain the quality of our kits. Contact them directly and they will send you it. x

RE: Kit cleaning - what do you do?

Rick Hayman — Fri, 06 May 2016 14:08:41 GMT

MSDS and Label statements on enzyme based products are made for the product / preparation as supplied (i.e. concentrated chemical) and would rarely apply to the "Ready to Use" diluted product. As such, whatever you're using should be able to be suitably disposed especially if diluted to a 1% or 2% strength solution.

Enzymatic based pre-cleaners are recommended in all cases instead of household detergents and soap scrubs as they are free rinsing and actively lift off proteinaceous material from instrument, devices and other equipment, prior to heat or cold sterilisation techniques.

One often forgotten cleaning process is to routinely clean ultrasonic cleaning baths and troughs. When solutions are changed it is recommended that the bath / basin is thoroughly disinfected and cleaned (wipes are ideal) and the instrument trough / tray / cage is also thoroughly cleaned and disinfected. Often these can be loaded into a dishwasher, but it is important to ensure that no residual organic material remains so as to contaminate the next freshly made solution of enzymatic cleaner.

Useful reprocessing guidelines can be located here... http://medi-mark.co.uk/products/product/reprozyme-enzymatic-instrument-cleaner

RE: Kit cleaning - what do you do?

Charmaloo88 — Fri, 06 May 2016 11:09:01 GMT

I may be stating the obvious here but it hasn't been mentioned so apologies if I'm teaching anyone to suck eggs...

We stack in cold water, scrub then into ultrasonic cleaner EXCEPT for anything with a scissor edge eg metzenbaums, needle holders etc as I've always been told ultrasonic cleaners can make sharp instruments blunt and shorten the life span of them. Anything sharp goes into enzymatic soak for 15-20 mins. All instruments sprayed with lubricant before packaging.

RE: Kit cleaning - what do you do?

David Beattie — Tue, 26 Apr 2016 14:37:11 GMT

Really appreciate all the replies!

For the "good" instruments:

Am planning to get a washbasin insert for sink with a plug hole so can rinse with tap water for the 3 minutes recommended by VetInst after using the enzymatic cleaner.

http://www.lakeland.co.uk/24000/Joseph-Joseph-Wash-and-Drain-White looks promising with the view to placing insturments in cold water in here immediately after surgery, then can drain and fill with enzymatic cleaner (one that's fine to put down the plug-hole!) when have time and use toothbrush and glvoed hands to clean them in this for specified soak time and then open the drain-hole and turn the tap on to rinse well.

Will definitely look into the ultrasounic cleaner also, but I think this would still be an additional step rather than a time-saver.

RE: Kit cleaning - what do you do?

Carolyn Edwards — Sun, 13 Sep 2015 14:26:40 GMT

Good old eBay!!

RE: Kit cleaning - what do you do?

Nicola Smith — Sun, 13 Sep 2015 11:55:04 GMT

Cant remember the brand of ours but some of the vet suppliers charge stupid money. We sourced the supplier of ours through ebay and we recently had a new one which cost around £160. Also depends what size you want - we only have a smallish one and just do one kit at a time as only takes 5 mins and saves instruments ending up in the wrong kits!!!!

RE: Kit cleaning - what do you do?

Carolyn Edwards — Sat, 12 Sep 2015 22:35:11 GMT

You might find the following guide useful

http://www.vetinst.com/skin1/admin/UserFiles/File/JS%20PDF/CAT%202012%20CH17%20INSTRUMENT%20CARE.pdf

If this isn't sufficiently detailed then there's lots of other information available through the internet. The NHS is a reliable source of well researched protocols that you could adapt to suit your practice.

Having read the guide above and all the other replies I'm thinking it's about time we got an ultrasonic cleaner. Can anyone recommend a model? Are there any to avoid?

RE: Kit cleaning - what do you do?

Katie Widdowson — Sat, 12 Sep 2015 19:00:50 GMT

After we've cleaned them in the sink we put them into a ultrasonic cleaner then rinse, dry+bag up, we don't seem to have any issues with steribility. Not sure how much these machines are though and we do not put delicate/sharp instruments+clipper blades in there.

RE: Kit cleaning - what do you do?

Sal the 1st — Wed, 09 Sep 2015 00:23:52 GMT

[quote user="David Beattie"]

1) The triple instrument enzyme cleaner says not to put down a drain! It says it has negligible ecotoxicity but should be disposed of by transferring to a container for collection by waste disposal company. If putting it down the plug hole is not allowed, then I think we’ll have to stop using it.

[/quote]

this is the one we use

http://www.medi-mark.co.uk/images/uploads/Reprochem_Manual_Enzymatic_and_Equipment_Cleaner_.pdf

and can be flushed to dispose of unless you are using gallons of the stuff (we use a litter tray to soak our instruments as we are pretty much 1 kit out as the next is ready to go in)

Our instruments are cleaned with a toothbrush with either hibi or washing up liquid in cold water, rinsed under the cold tap,reprochem for 10 mins, rinsed again under the cold tap, laid on a dry hand towel to drain, dried off with another towel, lubed as needed (Instol - but don't overdo it they dont need spraying every time!) excess wiped off, kit packed. From hitting the sink to hitting the autoclave 11-15 mins. Our instruments are in pretty good condition and I don't think the cleaning regime abuses them too much.

I do use purified water for the endoscope or anything where I think limescale could be a problem - mainly because we are in a very hard water area.

RE: Kit cleaning - what do you do?

george hunt — Tue, 08 Sep 2015 22:59:40 GMT

Hi david

I clean our instruments with anigene enzyme cleaner, then they go into an ultrasonic cleaner for five minutes, they are then rinsed with tap water and all jointed instruments go into instrument milk lubricant for 30 secs, lastly they are dried on a towel

Hope this helps

George

RE: Kit cleaning - what do you do?

Zoe Sharp — Tue, 08 Sep 2015 22:04:50 GMT

I was going to ask exactly the same question I've just left my training practice after being there 7 years I've taken on senior nurse role at my new practice and just researching protocols.

At at my old practice we'd soak instruments in cold water for half hour after op then clean with a hard brush and hibiscrub rinse it off then put the instruments in our ultrasonic cleaner which contains rapidzyme for 6 minutes. We'd then rinse the instruments with cold water once the ultrasonic cleaner had stopped with cold water then lay them out on a towel to dry.

At at my new practice they scrub the kits with just a hard brush and cold water and I've been reading using detergents so fairy liquid or hibiscrub can damage the instruments? We still again use the ultrasonic cleaner ( the deep fat fryer) with rapizyme and rinse then leave to dry. I added warm water to our rapizyme once and was advised against it by my old head nurse as it's an enzymatic cleaner and warm water may effect the way the enzymes work which makes perfect sense :)