Central Service - Issue 3/00

EDITORIAL

What makes a successful CS department?

NEWS UPDATE

What's New in Standardisation: Terms and Definitions
Infections from Inadequately Reprocessed Endoscopes
MedInform Seminar: Reprocessing Medical Single-Use Devices
Consensus Proposal: Reuse of Single-Use Medical Devices
CPT, ETS & ISO - Workshop of the Flamish Professional Society
CSC Conference in Cirencester
Cornelia Gröhl New Chairman of BVMed Board of Directors
Sterile Supply in Malaysia
Call for Papers: Hygiene Prize

MAIN ARTICLES

R. Frey:
The Structural and Functional Prerequisites for a Central Sterile Supply Department (CSSD)

Abstract
Reprocessing and sterile supply in the hospital setting are undergoing rapid changes. Based on the German Medical Devices Act, processing must be conducted with a validated process. Standards, ordinances, guidelines and laws must be strictly complied with in respect of the new forensic demands. Quality management and certification are other slogans which today are also being discussed in the central supply sterilisation departments. But is it at all possible to conduct processing as per quality dictates and using a validated process without having specified orderly structural prerequisites? What functional features are needed in a CSSD? Do these not lead to extra costs for the hospital? The following paper in intended as a means of providing answers to these questions as well as of encouraging discussion.

FROM THE FIELD

M.H.J. Ruijtenbeek:
Combi-Ster: Hospital Sterilization Facility Outdoor and Outsourced

Abstract
At Delft in the Netherlands, three general hospitals merged in 1984 into the Reinier de Graaf Group, which was further expanded with the Diagnostic Centre SSDZ in 1992 and another hospital in Voorburg in 1997. The Reinier de Graaf Group provides care for about 0,5 million inhabitants. In 1990, the outdoor CSD, Combi-Ster, was founded, with the support of a supplier. Three hospitals took part in the organisation.
After a lot of difficulties during the initial stage, Combi-Ster was reorganized and relaunched. Focusing on quality, the organisation is now running successfully and has obtained the ISO 9002+ certificate. The article outlines the different stages, the current situation and the preconditions of success.

LETTERS

Test Procedure for Bowie & Dick Indicators

EDUCATION

P. Heeg
Infections by Borreliae (Lyme Disease)

MAILBOX

Protective gowns for CSSD visitors

RECOMMENDATIONS BY THE QUALITY TASK GROUP (AK »QUALITÄT«)

Programmes for Automated Processing