COVE R S TORY
Re-evaluating cleaning chemistries
Andreia Messias, product manager, consumables, at STERIS, considers the question: should rising costs drive facilities to re-evaluate their cleaning chemistries?
The cost of reprocessing instruments is a topic that is not discussed enough. Everyone is aware of it and it should be discussed often in the field of infection prevention technologies. And the cost of ICC (instrument cleaning chemistries) is one of the main points of interest. With the rising cost of these products, will healthcare facilities re-evaluate their investment in ICC? It needs to be mentioned upfront that low-priced chemistries have short and long-term hidden costs. It is therefore very important to make an informed financial and long-term performance judgment when selecting a product. Published studies regarding cost of ICC used in primary care AWD (automated washer-disinfectors) suggested that using different class priced ICC had equivalence in cleaning efficacy.1
However, it should
be highlighted that an ICC should have additional characteristics and benefits than just cleaning. Prolystica™ High Performance (HP) Cleaning Chemistries demonstrate such benefits including instrument compatibility
and protection and reduction of unnecessary wear and tear in AWD. It is important that the complex chemical composition of the ICC is made with good quality ingredients capable of putting forward other benefits in addition to cleaning ability. Formulating a good composition requires detailed knowledge, not only on chemical ingredients but also on variables seen at the facility such as soil types, water quality, instrument materials, and resources. After adding appropriate ingredients and ensuring they are of good quality, ICC should be available at a reasonable cost.
But what is a reasonable cost? Is it the cost paid for the ICC to simply clean medical devices or is it the cost paid for the ICC to clean and protect medical devices causing no harm and early damage? These two questions are important, especially since the latter increases the general knowledge of how complex the cleaning process is and the importance of the chemical formulations.
VOLUME 21 l ISSUE 6 l JUNE 2022 THE CLINICAL SERVICES JOURNAL COVID recovery:
delivery plans Balancing safety with sustainability Decontamination: past, present and future
W W W. C L I N I C A LS E R VI C E S JO U R N A L . C O M
Articles comparing the cleaning efficacy of ICC currently commercialised within different price ranges have been published,1,2 however, these articles are based on studies across a small sample size of cycles. There are hidden costs that can only be seen with a larger number of cycles.
Nowadays, asides from the REACH
Figure 1: Difference between the material compatibility of commercialised cleaning chemistries and Prolystica™ HP Cleaning Chemistries.
6 l
WWW.CLINICALSERVICESJOURNAL.COM
(Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals) guidelines, aiming to protect human health and environment from the use of chemicals, and EU 648/2004, referring to placing detergents and surfactants on the market (particularly important to biodegradability and labelling), there are no cleaning efficacy and formulation standards to enter the infection prevention market. This does not contribute to standardising and controlling the costs of ICC, since any ingredient can be used regardless of its suitability for the cleaning process of medical devices. There is a need to have an agreed objective assessment of the ICC’s efficacy on soil removal, protection of the device, staff safety and sustainability over time. Such assessment would aid informed financial judgments on product selection and procurement. Otherwise, users are allowing products manufactured by companies not dedicated to the medical field to enter the infection prevention arena. STERIS is one of the few manufacturers owning and investing
JUNE 2022
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