Hand wash
or automated wash?

The thermodisinfector for washing surgical instruments

Validation and traceability, from the cleaning phase onwards

Whether your dental practice is big or small, it is crucial to carry out the sterilisation process properly. This is a fundamental activity which involves staff in delicate operations to be completed with absolute accuracy.

Indeed, a properly executed sterilisation protocol should be split into three vital stages: validation, traceability and retrievabilityWhilst retrievability is an important step for providing doubtful patients with evidence on instrument sterilisation after dental work, traceability is an indispensable stage prior to anything happening and before the instruments are used on the patients. But both of these fundamental stages rely solely on process validity – and this is the aspect we wish to dwell on now.

Satisfactory validation and traceability during the sterilisation protocol can only be obtained if the various phases are standardised – from instrument cleaning onwards.

Should the washing of surgical instruments take place by hand or be automated?

Still today, instrument cleaning is done manually in many cases. Dentists’ assistants are highly familiar with this phase because they are the ones who carry out the sterilisation process in the dental practice: they know how important it is to wear Personal Protective Equipment and they are well acquainted with the various pre-washing, washing, rinsing and drying stages.

They also know full well how much time these stages absorb and are aware that the error factor is always lurking, both in terms of operational safety and work accuracy. In fact, when the process is not automated, the margin of error is very high. And yet a small (human and understandable) error can invalidate all other phases of the sterilisation process.

You can imagine the consequences if, during the washing phase, an instrument stayed partially dirty, or if, during the drying stage, a tiny drop of water was not dried properly.

All this would negatively affect the sterilisation stage, but most of all it would pose a serious risk to patients when the instruments are used.

Then, there is one more aspect not to be underestimated: how much time do dental assistants actually spend washing work instruments? All time they could be dedicating to other useful activities such as customer care, welcoming patients to the dental practice and explaining procedures. Is it really worth keeping staff bound up in a process which risks being invalidated, not because of their carelessness but due to entirely natural margins of human error?

Eurosafe 60 is the answer to your needs for the sterilisation process. This Euronda product raises standards, ensures validation and especially saves time. The more you know it, the more you love it.

Eurosafe 60: the thermodisinfector that opens up a whole new world

Eurosafe 60 is a thermodisinfector which completes pre-washing, washing, rinsing and drying in one single cycle, thus doing away with the need for manual cleaning, delivering fast outstanding results and lowering risks for the dental staff. The name 60 comes from the spacious 60-litre tank which enables you not only to thermally disinfect scalpels, blades or burs, but even dental handpieces, loose instruments and containers. The hot-air drying system ensures the total removal of any residual water droplets both inside or outside objects, including hollow ones.

What benefits are there for the assistant?

Eurosafe 60 enables the user to set 3 preferred washing cycles and to programme up to 40: of the 40 washing cycles, 20 are default modes and 20 can be set up by the healthcare personnel with the option of password protection.

EuroSafe 60 can be used by 30 different staff members, each with their own personal access code. A handy USB port allows data and a record of past washing operations to be exported from the system: this is essential for the traceability and retrievability aspects of the sterilisation protocol.

Save time... and money

Validation of the sterilisation process is without doubt of paramount importance, but money savings are no secondary consideration. Eurosafe 60 allows you to keep costs down by even reducing the amount of detergent needed: about 3 litres is quite enough to cover 120 washing cycles. What is more, the disinfectant is actually redundant because it is the high temperature that leads to disinfection. The detergent tank has been installed inside the machine, thus reducing the risk of contamination by staff members.

As for washing-cycle capacity, despite its compact design, Eurosafe 60 is highly spacious and one full load is the equivalent of two autoclaves.

Validation, traceability and retrievability

At the beginning of this article, we mentioned the importance of traceability and retrievability in the sterilisation protocol. Two fundamental steps on which the validity of the entire process is attendant. Eurosafe 60 provides a complete data report: from the staff member who was in charge of programming the machine to a full account of temperatures and washing cycles.

This data can be accessed either via the USB port for downloading on a computer or by printing it up straightaway on the optional printer connected to the Eurosafe-60 thermodisinfector.

Total safety for dental assistants and patients alike

Tasks that were previously carried out by hand can now be done better with Eurosafe 60 – safely, with an automated mechanism and effectively. In a nutshell, this sums up the immense advantages residing in this thermodisinfector which will deliver outstanding end results whilst enabling you to deploy your dental staff to other activities.

Think about it. Once the Eurosafe 60 cycle is underway, the dental staff can see to patients in the waiting room, finish the accounts, draw up the appointments schedule or phone patients to see how they are feeling after the operation. In the meantime, Eurosafe 60 will be working busily in the background, completing all the pre-washing, washing, rinsing and drying phases accurately and efficiently whilst keeping tabs on each single stage and delivering certified protection standards for all patients.

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