Seminar Report

Thursday evening the delegates were welcomed by Inga Busa, the chairlady of the Latvian CSSD association (LSHSA).

A representative of the Ministry of Health focused on the role of the CSSD people in the hospitals.

After the official welcome of the LSHSA in the EFHSS the president, Wim Renders, made an overview of the mission of the EFHSS and thanked the companies for their continuous support in developing the EFHSS.

On Friday Pat Dillon opened the morning session with a presentation about monitoring the steam sterilization process. And that set the trend for the following sessions. Pat explained the different methods for testing steam and sterilizer efficacy.

Tim Galekop challenged us to evaluate how we resolve problems with wet packs. He pointed us in various directions to look at what could be causing the problem.

Lawrence Dawson told us how to test an ultrasonic machine and showed examples of new technologies, which challenge us how to clean these new products.

Valdis Kazulis spoke about various chemicals and how they contribute to safe decontamination. He also reminded us that all surfaces must be clean including tables, floors, etc.

Nicole Hirth had some wonderful statistics about the number of micro organisms on our hands and she told us how to destroy them.

Verona Schmidt gave a review about European norms and international standards with reference to the washing and cleaning process.

Hans Wolf spoke about the validation of sealing processes in accordance with the new ISO 11607. He told us that like all other machines in the CSSD even a sealer has to have an installation, operational and performance qualification.

Elmar Heid made a comment of the advantages in using rigid sterile containers.

Hans Strobel presented low plasma sterilization and gave a few examples how this sterilization process can lower the repair costs of rigid endoscopes and handpieces of an ultracision device.

Winfried Michels focused on the influence of different facts (remaining blood, temperature of the cleaning water, concentration of detergents) that can influence the result of the mechanical cleaning process.

To end the first day of the workshop Georg Ableitner talked about the tracking and tracing process, which can be achieved more easily with a computerized system.

Dirk Geiss opened the second day with a presentation about the EN 285 and highlighted the requirements both to the manufacturers and to the hospitals.

Anneli Haikonen gave her session about see-through packaging and its different components parts. She reminded us that labels should be on the clear side and not on the paper.

Peter Newson focused on the critical need for effective validation and routine monitoring of the sterilization processes. People must try to provide as much evidence as possible that the correct sterilization conditions were met in each and every item and tray.

Thomas Fengler showed us how to use data loggers both in washer-disinfectors and sterilizers to demonstrate the efficiency of the machine

Paul Holland began his presentation by discussing the increasing failure of antibiotics, the resurge of diseases such as Tuberculosis, and the emergence of as yet incurable TSE e.g. vCJD, the vital need for surgical equipment that can be safely and repeatedly decontaminated if potential risks of cross infection are to be managed. The concern is the risk to patients, who are already ill, of contracting a healthcare associated infection through iatrogenic means.

Rene Vis gave an informative presentation on design and development of a CSSD facility in the Netherlands. His outline followed the Dutch building model supported by relevant statistics in calculating room sizes of the department in the VU University Medical Center.

A gala diner on which Toni Zanetti presented the first "Early Bird" award for the most innovative stand at the exhibition to the Browne Group concluded the second and last day.

Inga Busa and the members of the organizing committee can rightly look back on a successful workshop that had been attended by over 250 delegates.

The EFHSS thanks the LSHSA together with Conni Hugo and Toni Zanette (representing EFHSS) for an event that gave an overview of today’s standards practices in disinfection en sterilization.

Susan J. Meredith & Walter Accoe