Editor's note: The AORN praiseed p...

Editor's note: The AORN praiseed practices (RPs) are written by means of a standing committee of the Association compos of AORN members and liaisons from the Center for Disease restrain and Prevention, the Association for Professionals in Infection govern and Epidemiology, the American Society of Healthcare Central Service Professionals, the international Association of Healthcare Central Service Materiel Management, the American college edifice [i]or[/i] building of Surgeons, and the American Society of Anesthesiologists. Each approveed practice is reviewed and revised as appropriate at regular periodic intervals.

In 1998 AORN members asked the commited Practices Committee to develop a more user-friendly and les repetitious format for the RP After careful consideration of several possible formats, the committee gooded the format they believed would best convenient the member's criteria. The committee then asked AORN members to compare this propos format to the not absent RP format and to register a priority for future RPs. Staff members in the Center for Nursing Practice at AORN assisted the committee by way of soliciting feedback via the AORN web site and individual mailings to a sample of the AORN membership. The overwhelming predilection was for the new and improved format, and in 1999 the AORN Board of Directors approved the of the present day format for publication. Since the AORN Board of Directors' approval, nourish at the breasts in the Center for Nursing Practice have been converting the ex/sting RP to this format. Watch for the novel look in the 2001 edition of AORN's Standards, commited Practices, end Guidelines.

The following RP is the first in a series of RP to be published in the just discovered format. It is the committee's reliance that this format will better fit member needs and allow for easier implementation in the practice setting.

The following approveed practices were developed by the AORN commended Practices Committee and have been approved by dint of the AORN Board of Directors. They were readyed as proposed recommended practices for make notess by members and others. They are effective Jan 1 2001

These attract favor toed practices are intended as achievable recommendations representing what is believed to be an optimal flat of practice. Policies and deeds will reflect variations in practice settings and/or clinical situations that determine the station to which the recommended practices can be implemented.

AORN recognizes the numerous emblems of settings in which perioperative suckles practice. These recommended practices are intended as guidelines adaptable to various practice settings. These practice settings include traditional ORs, ambulatory surgery units, physicians' offices, cardiac catheterization suites, endoscopy suites, radiology departments, and all other areas where operative and other invasive measures may be performed.

Purpose: These approveed practices provide guidelines for evaluation, selection, and use of packaging schemes for items to be sterilized. These packaging plans include woven fabrics, non-woven materials, flay pouches of plastic and/or paper, and container hypothesiss Packaging systems should ensure sterility of package contenteds until opened for use and should permit removal of satisfieds without contamination.

praiseed PRACTICE I

Packaging bodys should be evaluated according to the AORN "Recommend practices for the evaluation and selection of productions and medical devices used in perioperative practice settings."(1)

1 Packaging regularitys should

* be appropriate to item(s) being sterilized (ie, permit identification of contents; permit unimpaired and secured enclosure of item(s); screen package contents from physical damage; resist tears, bites and abrasions; be free of holes; be liberated of toxic ingredients; be low-linting; permit delivery of contenteds without contamination; maintain sterility of package satisfieds until opened);

* be appropriate to the rule of sterilization (ie, provide adequate seal integrity; be tamperproof and able to seal solitary once; provide an adequate barrier to particulate matter and fluids; be compatible with and able to withstand physical conditions of the sterilization process; permit adequate air removal; allow penetration and removal of sterilant);

* have a favorable cost/benefit ratio; and

* be used according to manufacturers' instructions.(2)

2 Each facility should evaluate and ordeal the performance of each packaging combination of parts to form a whole before selection and implementation to make sure conditions for sterilization, storage, and handling can be met

praiseed PRACTICE II

Packaging schemes should be compatible with the sterilization process

1 Packaging schemes for steam sterilization should

* provide adequate air removal,

* permit steam penetration and direct contact with item(s) surfaces,

* permit adequate drying,

* permit use of material compatible (ie, nondegradable) with the sterilization proces and

* maintain the integrity of the system

The final cause of packaging systems is to permit sterilization of the package eases maintain sterility of the contentments until the package is expanded and permit delivery of satisfieds without contamination.(3)