While many medical processes and procedures have transitioned to single-use medical items, there is still a place for sterilisation and autoclaving in the medical industry.
As part of general hygiene and safety, autoclaves and the sterilisation process they offer are crucial for the medical industry.
However, do you know the various reasons that make autoclaves critical in keeping your medical facility hygienic and safe?
Medical-grade autoclaves can be quite costly to operate.
Nonetheless, they are not only mandated by regulation in some cases, but they are also advantageous to use.
In the following article, we will explore the importance of autoclaving for the medical industry as a whole.
- Autoclaves help in the sterilisation of reusable medical items and devices
- The autoclaving helps sterilise some medical waste before disposal
- Autoclaving makes it possible for medical facilities to sterilise items continuously
Sterilisation And Autoclaves Help Sterilise Reusable Medical Items And Devices
Many hospitals in Australia have transitioned from using reusable medical devices and items to using single item medical devices.
A great example is the hypodermic needle, which in today's’ medical industry is a single-use medical device.
However, there are plenty of other medical devices that are either too expensive for single-use or are easier to sterilise and reuse.
For instance, instruments such as drill bits, reamers, scalpers, scalpels, forceps, chisels, extractors, and many other reusable surgical instruments cannot be thrown away after a sign use.
Not only are they expensive tools, but they also have a high potential for reusability. As such, there is an inherent incentive to reuse these tools.
Additionally, the tools are also slow to fabricate. The medical tools mentioned above are precision tools that are produced relatively slowly.
As such, there might be an inadequate supplies of these devices should hospitals use them in a disposable manner.
Finally, these tools, which are made of medical-grade materials, especially metal, are designed for reusability.
The metal tools do not deteriorate in quality fast and can last quite a long time without losing their efficiency.
With all the above in mind, autoclaving and the sterilisation process makes it possible to reuse such medical devices.
Laboratories, hospitals, dental offices, and other medical facilities can and do use autoclaves to disinfect and sterilise reusable medical instruments, making them safe for reuse.
Effectively, autoclaving makes the reusability of medical devices possible.
Autoclaving Helps Sterilise Some Medical Waste Before Disposing
As mentioned above, the medical industry is increasingly shifting to a new form of medical devices – the single-use medical devices.
A good example is the hypodermic needle, which is a single-use medical device.
However, there are plenty of other single-use medical devices, including scalpel handles, forceps, and much more.
Such devices are designed to be used once and disposed of.
However, as you can imagine, their use can lead to a lot of waste, which can be dangerous to handle.
For instance, handling many hypodermic needles creates a risky scenario of infections spreading.
The autoclave and the sterilisation process are essential in the safety of health workers as it helps to sterilise the single-use medical devices and items, thereby improving the handling safety.
Autoclaving such medical devices reduces the chances of disease transmission during the handling of the devices after their use.
Most importantly, the serialisation process allows such devices to be disposed of via the normal council disposal channels, without having to worry about safety.
Autoclaving Makes It Possible For Medical Facilities To Continuously Sterilise Items
Keeping everything sterile in a hospital can be a challenge.
Moreover, sterilising medical equipment on a mass scale is not only challenging but one of the most expensive endeavours.
Even a small clinic or lab will go through tens if not hundreds of medical instrument on any given day.
Autoclaving makes mass sterilisation possible.
Depending on the capacity of an autoclave, lab technicians in charge of sterilising medical tools can load a good number of devices in one go, while still achieving effective sterilisation.
This is a cost-effective way of keeping the tools that a lab, clinic, hospital, or any other medical facility sterile and safe for use.
Moreover, autoclaving is a much faster sterilisation process. By using steam at 134 °C and pressure, the load is sterilised in as little as 3 minutes.
Even at a lower temperature setting, say 121 °C, the autoclave will sterilise the load in about 15 to 20 minutes.
This is an exceptionally fast process, and it allows medical facilities to sterilise their medical instruments in a quick, efficient, and cost-effective manner.
Conclusion
An autoclave is a must-have piece of medical equipment for all medical facilities.
In many ways, the safety of the medical workers and patients is reliant on the various medical instrument being sterile and safe to use and handle at all times.
The autoclave helps medical facilities achieve this by sterilising medical instruments.
Whether it is a reusable medical instrument or single-use items, autoclaving ensures it is safe for use.
If you are searching for the best autoclave supplier in Australia, then look no further than Medical Equipment Services Australia.
We were originally established in 1952 in order to provide electro-medical products to healthcare professionals across the country.
The company (Medical Equipment Services) was acquired by Medical Equipment Australia in 2009. Since then, we have also expanded into the dental industry.
For all your medical and dental supply requirements, please call us today on 1300 342 013 or contact us through our website.
