Medical hospital materials processing: a literature review on sterilization effectiveness

Abstract

Backgound and Objectives: Surgical instruments are widely reprocessed, mainly in developing countries, where the cost of using these materials is high. Scientifi c literature indicates the absence of validated cleaning and sterilization processes. The study aimed at evaluating, through a literature review, the evidence to support or not the practice of reprocessing and reuse of originally single-use, medical-hospital materials. Methods: A total of 27 articles in English and Portuguese were selected from journals indexed in the LILACS, Pubmed and Medline databases, as well as studies published in ScienceDirect website using the following key words: sterilization, single-use articles, hospital infection and surgical instruments. Articles that did not fi t the study subject were excluded. Results: There was a great variety of studied instruments and reprocessing methods. Most articles emphasize the sterilization ineffectiveness, identifying microorganisms at the end of the process. Conclusion: Based on the current knowledge, it is important to consider each case validating surgical materials reprocessing and reuse protocols based on scientific knowledge. Based on the analysis of the study articles, we concluded that this practice cannot be performed indiscriminately. KEYWORDS: Sterilization. Cross infection. Surgical Equipment. Public Health.