Medical devices act mention that a medical practitioner may not use an unclean or defective medical device to take care of a patient. Some problems arise when medical equipment is not cleaned correctly like an infection of the patient. This may lead to further problems, and the treatment of the patient may not go as planned. Similarly, there are specific guidelines that one has to abide by if proper cleaning of the medical equipment is anything to come by. Custom tray is one of the medical equipment that requires being cleaned to avoid further infecting the patient with microorganisms that stay on the tray that is not properly cleaned.
As a rule, new custom trays can be used without conditioning unless the manufacturer mentions otherwise. However, the custom tray must be conditioned in the instance that contamination cannot be precluded. Even so, it is still critical to take considerations of the manufacturer’s guidelines for cleaning the equipment before one attempts to clean the device. Also important is the fact that one has to carry out a separate assessment risk for custom trays that have been used for a considerable amount of time.
Cleaning of the custom trays goes beyond just physically removing the visible dirt on the surface of the tray. It also involves ensuring that the microorganism that is not visible is killed, and the surface of the tray left free of any microorganism that could potentially cause further health complications. Disinfection will remove several levels of pathogenic microorganisms except for the bacterial spores that are often stubborn especially on an inanimate object. It is also imperative to discern between disinfection and sterilization. Sterilization will remove all the microorganisms but disinfection will not. The level of microbial contamination and the concentration and exposure of the custom tray to the germicide are some of the factors that affect the efficacy of disinfection. There are three levels of disinfection that can be carried out on a custom tray. The first level of disinfection is the high-level disinfection which terminates all microorganisms except bacterial spores that are in large number. Intermediate level of disinfection is the level that kills organisms including vegetative bacteria, most viruses, and most fungi but does not kill microorganisms like bacterial spores. The last level of disinfection is the low-level disinfection which kills vegetative bacteria, some fungi, and some viruses. Equipment for patient care may be infected from various quarters including a bioterrorist agent, bloodborne pathogens, antibiotic-resistant bacteria, and emerging pathogens. A lot of research studies have been conducted to ascertain the level of cleaning that is best for customer trays, and the results indicate that high-level sterilization and disinfection are more effective in cleaning the custom tray.
Another important aspect to note is that a clean custom procedure tray is good because it also protects the medical practitioner using it during procedures. Medical practitioners who use unclean custom procedure trays are just as exposed to infections as the patients. During the sterilization process, the person cleaning must check the sterility assurance level after the sterilization process. Once the sterilization process is complete, a test is carried out to ascertain whether all the microorganisms on the surface of the tray are all dead. This is done using the Biological Indicating Testing and Chemical Indicators. Upon ascertainment that it is clean, the practitioner can go ahead to use the instrument during a procedure.