What is Sterilization and Disinfection?
Sterilization is defined as a process of complete elimination or destruction of all forms of microbial life (i.e., both vegetative and spore forms), which is carried out by various health-care facilities by physical or chemical methods. Steam under pressure, dry heat, gas, hydrogen peroxide gas plasma, and liquid chemicals are the principal sterilizing agents used in operating theatre.
Disinfection is defined as a process of complete elimination of vegetative forms of microorganisms except the bacterial spores from inanimate objects. using disinfectants or antiseptics.
To conclude, sterilization, disinfection, and cleaning are the mainstay of hospital infection control activities. The selection and application of different methods should be done as per the recommendation and according to the manufacturer’s instruction. Hand hygiene remains the cornerstone of all infection control activities.
These principles include the following:
- Use only sterile items within a sterile field;
- Sterile (scrubbed) personnel are gowned and gloved;
- Sterile personnel operate within a sterile field (sterile personnel touch only sterile items or areas, unsterile personnel touch only unsterile items or areas)
Every hospital should have its own guidelines of sterilizing and disinfecting items on the basis of their intended use of medical devices and associated infections. Currently, there is an increase in frequency of newly emerging and multidrug-resistant pathogens in all health care centers for which only few/if any treatments are available. Hence, the medical personnel, laboratory people, and health care providers should have better knowledge regarding these techniques to prevent the spread of these pathogens.