Autoclave Steam Sterilization Cycles, Part 6: F0 Cycle Written by: Arthur Trapotsis Autoclave efficacy is highly dependent on time, temperature, and pressure, and these parameters can be manipulated and optimized to create specific sterilization cycles for each application. To help your facility get the most out of your autoclave, we introduce the sixth article in our Steam Sterilization Cycles series: The F0 Cycle (pronounced f-sub-zero or f-sub-oh). Read more → Tweet Like Share
Properly Sizing an Autoclave Chamber for Your Animal Lab Written by: Mike Peters Steam sterilization is routinely used in animal laboratories for two reasons: 1) to sterilize animal cages in order to create a pathogen-free housing environment and 2) to properly dispose of harmful waste products. Since autoclaves are essential for everyday laboratory operation, it is important to select a chamber size with enough capacity to meet the […] Tweet Like Share
University Sustainability Projects: 3 Innovative Schools Making a Creative Difference Written by: Scott Mechler Today, sustainability initiatives are being adopted by nearly every business, organization, and project in the United States—and for good reason. “Going green” not only helps reduce waste and conserve environmental resources, it enables organizations to promote a healthier workplace and save money. Read more → Tweet Like Share
Steam Sterilization Cycles, Part 5: Low Temperature Cycle Written by: Arthur Trapotsis Steam sterilizers play a pivotal role in your lab’s research capabilities and throughput. However, how can you safely and properly sterilize load types that are more temperature-sensitive than others? To help you avoid overheating a specific load type, thereby compromising it, we introduce the fifth article in CSS’ ongoing Steam Sterilization Cycles series: Read more → Tweet Like Share
Common Steam Autoclave Maintenance Questions, Answered Written by: Amit Gupta Maintaining steam autoclaves in proper working order improves productivity, reduces downtime, extends the life of the autoclave, and helps to ensure overall safety in the workplace. So, to help you maintain your autoclave, we wrote about the importance of autoclave maintenance and shared some basic tips to maintain your equipment in a prior post. In this post, we take the conversation a little deeper, answering common maintenance questions and identifying the critical components on an autoclave that should be inspected periodically by a trained service provider. This is not an exhaustive list of all the autoclave components that should be inspected but merely the major ones. Read more → Tweet Like Share
Steam Sterilization Cycles, Part 4: Rapid Cool Cycles Written by: Arthur Trapotsis While not every research facility conducts the same research, most every research facility is interested in improving their overall efficiencies, which includes optimum throughput capacity when it comes to using their steam autoclaves. To help your facility achieve maximum return from your autoclave, we introduce the fourth article in CSS’ series about Steam Sterilization Cycles—part of an ongoing effort to help you leverage the appropriate cycle types for your unique applications. Read more → Tweet Like Share
Steam Sterilization Cycles, Part 3: Steam-Air-Mix Cycle Written by: Arthur Trapotsis When using steam autoclaves, it’s critical to identify, understand, and create the proper sterilization cycle for ALL of your load requirements. So, as part of our series discussing Steam Sterilization Cycles, this third article is designed to explore the Steam-Air-Mix Cycle, a more advanced steam sterilization cycle for unique applications. Read more → Tweet Like Share
Steam Sterilization Cycles, Part 2: Liquids Written by: Arthur Trapotsis Following our first post about Steam Sterilization Cycles—where we addressed Gravity vs. Vacuum Cycles—this second article discusses the Liquids Cycle. Read more → Tweet Like Share
Understanding Steam Autoclave Ownership Costs: Acquisition Cost vs. Operating Cost Written by: Scott Mechler Whether you’re purchasing a small laboratory autoclave or one for your ambulatory surgery center, a steam autoclave is a significant investment. Beyond budgeting for upfront purchasing costs, it’s critical to understand the overall lifetime costs of owning a steam autoclave, as well. In order to make the best purchasing decision, you need to consider both the initial price tag (the acquisition cost) and the long-term maintenance costs (the operating cost). By combining these costs, you can get the full picture of what it costs to own an autoclave over its entire lifespan. When in the market for your next steam autoclave, it’s important to carefully consider all associated costs — let’s break them down. Read more → Tweet Like Share
Steam Sterilization Cycles, Part 1: Gravity vs. Vacuum Written by: Arthur Trapotsis Steam sterilization relies on three parameters to eliminate microbes and organisms: time, temperature, and pressure. These parameters can be manipulated into different cycles to meet the sterilization requirements of various types of loads, including red bags, media, glassware, cages, animal bedding, and pipette tips. Although it’s possible to sterilize the vast majority of common laboratory loads using one of three basic cycles — gravity, vacuum (or prevac), and liquid — you’ll want to ensure that your sterilizer offers the appropriate cycles for all of your load requirements. In this article, we’ll explore the first two basic steam sterilization cycles — gravity and vacuum — including how they work and when to use them. Then, in future articles, we’ll discuss additional cycle types, such as liquid cycles, air-overpressure cycles, and a myriad of other, more advanced cycles for specialized applications. Read more → Tweet Like Share
7.12.23 Cordyceps Sterilization: How to Kill “The Last of Us” Parasite → In HBO’s recent adaptation of “The Last of Us,” a popular action-adventure video game, life as we know it is upended by a parasitic fungus that transforms its human hosts into zombies. The culprit? Cordyceps, a real-life genus of fungus which is best known for infecting insects (most famously ants) in much the same manner […]
6.30.23 Top 13 Sterile Processing Mistakes in Hospitals → When it comes to ensuring patient safety in hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs), the Sterile Processing Department (SPD) is among the last lines of defense. It’s this department’s sole responsibility to make sure that reusable instruments and devices are properly decontaminated, sterilized, and ultimately safe to use in future procedures — protecting patients from […]
6.22.23 Sterilization vs. High-Level and Low-Level Disinfection [a 3-Point Comparison] → In a 1939 paper, microbiologist Earle H. Spaulding introduced a system for determining which medical devices and instruments needed disinfection and which ones required sterilization. In it, he proposed that critical instruments would need to be subjected to more stringent disinfection protocols than non-critical patient care items. Today, this framework is fittingly known as Spaulding […]
