Healthmark Industries Co. offers an effective device to provide sterile processing professionals with a consistent, repeatable, reliable method for evaluating the cleaning effectiveness of their automated instrument washers.
The TOSI® is dried blood soil on a stainless steel coupon; it is analogous to dried blood on a stainless steel instrument. The company mounted the plate in a plastic holder with a graduated gap. This is just like the areas on a surgical instrument which are blocked from direct spray action, such as box locks.
Failure to properly clean surgical instruments means that bioburden is "cooked" onto the instruments during sterilization - trapping contaminants where they can easily cause infection. Proper cleaning is critical, yet until the TOSI there was not been a device that consistently, and independently provides an objective challenge to cleaning effectiveness.
The TOSI® aligns perfectly with FDA, AAMI, AORN and other regulatory recommendations for a surrogate testing device: utilize the same kind of soil on the same type of surface and with the same kind of physical challenge as the instrument itself when reprocessed. Visit
