09/11/2025
Infection control is something I take very seriously. Reducing the transmission of microorganisms like bacteria, viruses and fungal infections is paramount for the safe treatment of patients attending our clinic.
Instruments are what I use on a daily basis for nail cutting, ingrowing toe nails and callus/hard skin/ corn removal alongside other procedures. The guidelines set out involve decontamination and sterilisation of instruments, these are strictly adhered to for the prevention of infection
The stages of decontamination and sterilisation are -
1.The instruments are thoroughly scrubbed with a brush in water, ensuring the crevasses of the instruments are cleaned of any residual debris.
2. They are then placed into an ultrasonic cleaner, the debris that may be present on the instruments, drops to the bottom of the ultrasonic machine.
3. Instruments are then rinsed in clean water to remove any detergent residue.
4. They are removed from the water onto dry paper towels and covered until the instruments are dry.
5. The instruments are then placed into vacuum pouches ready for the sterilisation stage.
6. The instrument pouches are placed into the autoclave and set off on a cycle that will reach a temperature of 134 °C degrees for 4 minutes which is the recommended time and temperature acceptable for the vacuum instrument sterilisation process. Thermal print outs and a internal USB records every cycle the machine completes.
Traceability of instruments is very important, for every set of instruments the cycle number is recorded on each set and dated.
Hopefully this explanation of the process of decontamination and sterilisation of instruments is simple to understand and also reassuring in that all the instruments I use in have gone through this very strict and rigorous process
