The printout clearly said "abort"; Tell me about it; Make a day of it; New machines; Advancement; Association; Give; Instrumentation; Make; Medical Instrumentation; Pop Quiz What; QI; Quiz What; Staff Pop Quiz What; aborted; addressed; amount; annual; asked; assigned; back; basic; biomedical; brought; case; check; circulating; cleaning; competency; complete; concept; conscientious; considered; continue; correct; correctly; created; cycle; cycles; daily; data; day; decided; dedicated; delete; demonstrated; developed; devoted; difference; discussed; documentation; documented; documenting; droppe... show all keywordsThe printout clearly said "abort"; Tell me about it; Make a day of it; New machines; Advancement; Association; Give; Instrumentation; Make; Medical Instrumentation; Pop Quiz What; QI; Quiz What; Staff Pop Quiz What; aborted; addressed; amount; annual; asked; assigned; back; basic; biomedical; brought; case; check; circulating; cleaning; competency; complete; concept; conscientious; considered; continue; correct; correctly; created; cycle; cycles; daily; data; day; decided; dedicated; delete; demonstrated; developed; devoted; difference; discussed; documentation; documented; documenting; dropped; easier; easy; educate; education; effective; effort; emergency; end; ended; ensure; ensuring; experience; explained; explains; facility; fewer; field; find; flap; flash; flash-sterilize; flashed; flashing; floor; follow-up; found; fundamentals; gaps; giving; glad; gravity; guidelines; hand; handful; hangs; hospital; ideas; immediately; improvement; incident; including; indicators; informal; information; installed; instances; instrument; items; job; justification; keeping; knew; knowing; knowledge; knowledgeable; lack; learned; left; list; listed; logbook; logs; long; looked; lot; machine; made; maintaining; make; manager; mechanics; meet; minimum; minutes; missing; mode; names; needed; never-ending; noticed; number; nurse; nurses; nursing; operate; orient; orientation; page; pan; parameters; part; particulars; patient; percent; performed; periods; place; placement; placing; plans; practice; pre-programmed; pre-vacuum; printout; printouts; procedure; process; program; programmed; proper; properly; put; putting; quality; questions; ran; ranged; rate; read; realize; received; recommendations; reference; reflects; reprogrammed; required; result; review; reviewed; reviewing; room; rotate; run; safe; scrub; serve; services; set; setting; sheet; shown; sign; skin; specialized; specific; spell; staff; standard; sterile; sterilization; sterilize; sterilizer; sterilizers; strip; surgeon; surgery; surgical; talked; technician; test; time; told; training; transport; tray; tremendous; turnover; unaware; understood; uneventfully; unusual; updated; upset; versus; wanting; wrap; wrapped; wrote; year
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When done correctly, flash sterilization is a safe and effective process for emergency or unusual situations. But it shouldn't take the place of standard wrapped sterilization or serve as justification for keeping fewer instruments on hand. And as the following incident illustrates, it shouldn't be performed by staff who don't know the fundamentals of flash sterilization.
