Lab personnel are responsible for making a variety of decisions when they are concerned with microbial sterilization within their department. They will gain a complete knowledge about the full range of sterilization methods and the use of disinfectants so they can make the best decisions which are good for their patients as well as managing the safety of the lab personnel.
The Use of Disinfectants
When considering microbial sterilization, the lab personnel require information about the specific item that may be used before they can make final decisions. Many items fail to stand the high heat for sterilization, but will benefit from the use of disinfectants.
The lab personnel will need to consider what type of microbial contamination may be available and the level of impact. For microbial sterilization, they will need to know the humidity, temperature, and pH as well as questioning whether any soil or organic matter is present. This will dictate the concentration of the necessary active ingredient within the disinfectants, and this will provide information about the time required for the item to be disinfected.
When these factors are known, the organization that manufactures the disinfectant will be able to explain the amount of success that will be achieved through sterilization or disinfection. The warning message on all disinfectants, which will include a potential variety of dangerous chemicals, is to use the disinfectant for the exact purpose it was designed for as it may be dangerous to use it under other circumstances.
There is a wide range of chemical disinfectant groups that the lab personnel must learn and understand to ensure they using the product in the right circumstances.
As alternatives, they may turn to steam as a sterilization method. Other optional sterilization processes include dry heat, radiation, gasses, and vapors.
Lab personnel must gain the full knowledge of knowing when common household bleach is an acceptable method of disinfectant or when they should require the need for different sterilization system altogether.