A hospital Sterilizer is a machine for destroying any living organism that may be present on any hospital-related equipment. Anything that has to be sterilized must be cleaned by placing it in a separate contamination room and is thoroughly inspected for effectiveness, cleanliness, and any damage. The ETO sterilization process is used in the operation of an effective hospital sterilizer.
ETO Sterilization– This process is a low-temperature one and uses Ethylene Oxide gas to reduce any infectious or harmful agent. It is usually mixed with steam or Carbon Dioxide while being used in a hospital sterilizer. While ETO sterilization is done the main physical parameters to be monitored are the temperature and humidity. ETO can penetrate surfaces of most medical equipment and this makes it very important for Critical medical supplies. Ethylene Oxide is an alkylating agent and aids in disrupting cellular metabolism or stopping the reproductive processes of microorganisms. The ETO sterilization cycle can be divided into a three-phase cycle or a five-phase cycle. They are defined as –
- Preconditioning-It sets up a temperature and humidity condition for the infectious agent to come out of any hibernation
- Sterilization or Conditioning-It exposes the material to be sterilized to the sterilizing agent at the specified temperature and pressure levels along with the desired RH%
- Aeration-A separate chamber is required for removing the ETO gas in the sterilization chamber. The time and temperature are again monitored.
Manufacturers of ETO Sterilization Roll
Disinfection and Sterilization with Ethylene Oxide- Ethylene Oxide Sterilizer is predominantly used in health care facilities that are moisture or heat sensitive and difficult to be sterilized using steam. Any device used in health care practices can be sterilized with this. For Example, an instrument used for wound dressing as well as a stent used for the heart can also be sterilized effectively with this sterilizer machine. The benefits of ETO industrial sterilizers are-
- The sterility medical equipment have a high degree of efficiency and destroys the tiniest of micro-organisms and even the most resistant of spores.
- A huge volume can be sterilized which results in saving time depending on the chamber capacity.
- Medical equipment can be of plastic, metal, or rubber and this is non-corrosive and the Sterility Medical Device takes care of this.
ETO Sterilization validation-This validation is designed for the manufacturer to have assistance in the development of a sterilization process that delivers the adequate assurance level and also provides a provision for repeating the sterilization of any product type. All types of products whether sterilized in-house or by a contract outside has to be validated so that compliance is done by national and international standards.
Operation of a Hospital Sterilizer-The ETO hospital sterilizer has a step by step procedure-
- The cycle gets initiated by inserting the load to be sterilized and the autoclave set to the cycle and other parameters
- The first phase involved is removing any air by a vacuum pump by the use of negative pulses. Each pulse passed would remove about 80% of air and eliminates any kind of air pockets which may be present.
- The next stage is where the pressure and temperature remain constant. The holding time (sterilization time) gets completed and the exhaust valve expels the pressure back to the atmosphere.
- Next comes the drying stage where the vacuum pump sucks out the moisture by decreasing the pressure lower than the atmospheric one. The boiling temperature is also lowered than the actual boiling temperature at 100 degrees and the water is extracted to a gas form and the load gets dried. Thus the sterilization is completed.
The hospital sterilizers are even made in modular designs to reduce the possibility of an explosion and the advantage of these are that they have high efficiency and optimizing cycle length. Special safety measures are also designed for a reliable sterilization process for heat and humidity-sensitive products.ETO sterilizer manufacturers design Ethylene Oxide Gas Sterilizers in such ways that can include assembled equipment, multi-lumen tubes, catheters, syringes, or dialysis cartridges. An Industrial ETO sterilizer’s manufacturer takes care of complete quality control and effectiveness of such sterilizers as they are very critical in the medical field.
