Ecolab introduces surgical instrument reprocessing programme

Ecolab has launched the OptiPro Instrument Reprocessing Programme in the US to improve patient safety. The programme comprises a comprehensive approach to instrument reprocessing based on the company's own technology and advanced formulations.

The programme is supported by Ecolab's service and training on industry best practices to achieve improved patient outcomes and process standardisation. The announcement was made at the 2010 International Association of Healthcare Central Service Material Management Annual Meeting in San Diego.

"Within hospitals, sterile processing departments perform the vital task of cleaning the thousands of surgical instruments used in patient care. However, they struggle with high personnel turnover making training and effective products critical to their success," said Paul Chaffin, vice president and general manager, Ecolab Healthcare North America. "Through the best-in-class technology and service included in the OptiPro programme, we can help healthcare facilities obtain consistent quality outcomes and optimise their instrument cleaning processes."

To assure successful implementations, Ecolab developed a comprehensive in-service programme for continuing education as part of OptiPro. The company’s Best Practices Implementation Package provides training in decontamination area processes, such as point-of-use treatment, manual cleaning, ultrasonic cleaning, automated washing and cart washing. Ecolab sterile processing training modules follow AMMI (Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation) standards and include wall cards with support materials to ensure consistent processes are followed.

The Ecolab OptiPro product portfolio provides a variety of cleaning solutions such as pre-cleaners, manual cleaners and automated washer detergents. It includes the OptiPro Solid Enzymatic System, which leverages Ecolab's solid product technology to reduce packaging waste, weight, transportation and storage costs to promote sustainability. This dual protease enzymatic system has been developed for low and high temperatures of washer-disinfectors to deliver optimum cleaning performance. The OptiPro solid system uses colour- and shape-coded blocks, which help to avoid chemical errors and are easy to store and load.