THERMO DIAGNOSTICS.
STERILE PROCESSING AND WET PACKS OR STAINS
Wet Packs and SPD - Troubleshooting
Sterilizers and autoclaves are critical components in health care, life sciences, institutional, and research facilities... but since they are open-ended steam users, poor steam quality (water in the line) can cause major problems.
We perform steam quality testing according to ANSI/AAMI ST79, Comprehensive guide to steam sterilization and sterility assurance in health care facilities (2010), and European Standard EN285.
If you are experiencing wet packs, there are some basic troubleshooting steps you can take:
- Start a list of the wet items, make a note of time, type of sets (especially heavy ortho sets). Steam loads change hourly with a typical healthcare system. Weather, time of day, changes to water treatment, can impact wet steam and create wet loads… So, good documentation and communication will help diagnose any future wet load occurrences.
- Make sure the sets are not overweight. Sterilizers built before 2010 are usually only validated for 17 pound sets. After 2010, SOME sterilizers are validated for 25 pound sets. Make sure you are weighing your sets.
- There is a good checklist in the Amendment 4 of the ST-79 Standard. This amendment came out in 2014, so you might only have a PDF of it, or it is stuffed in the back of the AAMI binder if you have hard copy.
- If basin sets are the primary culprit, read this discussion on basin sets
You can also read some of our articles about sterilizer wet packs, stains, and steam quality:
