The Infection Control Today® sterile processing page provides an inside look into the sterile processing (or central supply) department in the hospital where surgical instruments are cleaned, sterilized, and reprocessed in order to disinfect, remove bioburden, and prep for upcoming procedures. Sterile processing applies to not only the knives, scalpels, scissors, forceps, and clamps used in surgery, but also instruments such as endoscopes and duodenoscopes. ICT® reports on the latest technology but also on the means to disinfect that technology. Also, the trend toward making more disposable surgical equipment. What does that mean for the sterile processing team?
October 17th 2025
What is a day in the life of a sterile processing department technician like? Read this article by Hannah Schroeder, BSHA, CRCST, CHL, CIS, CER, to find out.
September 26th 2025
GE to Develop Hospital Robot System to Sort and Sterilize Surgical Tools
February 5th 2013The Institute of Medicine estimates that tens of thousands of Americans die needlessly every year from avoidable medical errors, including infections acquired during surgery. GE and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs have now teamed up to change that. They will develop an intelligent system using robots, computer vision and automatic identification technologies like RFID tags to fetch, sort, and sterilize surgical tools. The system could save lives, and money.