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Pressure Cooker Sterilizing - Introduction

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[ Back ] [ Up ] [ Next ] Before reading this you should be familiar with Cleaning Your Instruments. There are two basic ways to sterilize medical and surgical instruments (including your toys): Steam Sterilization with an Autoclave (steam under pressure). Gas Sterilization with Ethylene Chloride. Gas Sterilization is highly toxic and dangerous. It is process available only to medical manufacturers and a few hospital/medical type facilities. Thus the only practical method available to many of us is Steam under Pressure. Autoclaves are expensive: New ones start at $1,800 to $2,000. Small used ones may be occasionally had for around $500. This leaves the good old fashioned Pressure Cooker for most of us. This is the under $100 alternative. There is a difference in being sterile and having been sterilized. Being Sterile means the item is taken from a sterile package and is used immediately. Having been Sterilized means the item has been sterilized and is kept under clean conditions until use. It is not necessarily sterile at the time of use. Sanitized means that an item had been disinfected with bleach or other disinfectant and is in a relatively clean condition. It is not necessarily sterile. Steam Sterilization is the only practical method that kills anything and everything. Even this must be done properly to be effective. Instruments must be clean and free from debris, lubricants, and body fluids before being sterilized. Heat can cause proteins and surgical lubricants to encapsulate pathogens and protect them from the sterilizing process. Clean and wash all instruments carefully before sterilizing them. This is especially true if your instruments have been used on someone before. Use lots of detergent, water, and bleach. If these are contaminated items, wear latex gloves as you handle them. The steam under pressure raises the temperature in the sterilization chamber to kill all pathogens. The killing process is a function of Time and Pressure. Autoclaves reach a temperature of 270o Fahrenheit or 132o Celsius at a pressure of 30 pounds and requires 15 minutes for the process to be effective. Pressure Cookers reach a temperature of 250o F or 121o C at a pressure of 15 pounds and requires 30 minutes for the process to be effective. This article will only deal with pressure cookers for the sterilization of steel instruments or other not heat sensitive items. Do not try to sterilize latex items or liquids. The sterilization of cloth drapes, etc. is not practical in a pressure cooker due to the lack of a drying cycle. First pick a pressure cooker of sufficient size to hold the instruments you wish to use. If you are using sounds and/or dilators the pressure cooker should have an inside diameter of at least 12 inches. MIRRO® Company of Manitowoc, Wisconsin makes a 12 quart model that works just fine. It is available in most stores that sell cookware at about $80. It's $80 well spent! (See Figures 1, 7, & 8) Unlike the autoclave, a pressure cooker does not have a drying cycle! If you wish to package your instruments for later use after sterilization, they must be dry before you can safely handle them without contaminating them. This is a complicated process and will not be discussed here. Put your instruments in the pressure cooker, sterilize them, let them cool and use them right out of the pressure cooker. [ Back ] [ Up ] [ Next ]

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