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 www.hmark.com for more information.
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