Maintaining Standard Precautions and Sterilizing Equipment — Practice Checklist

Step-by-Step Procedure (7 steps)

1. 1.

   Perform hand hygiene before and after every patient contact, and before/after glove use — gloves are not a substitute for hand hygiene.

2. 2.

   Select PPE appropriate to the task: gloves for any contact with blood or body fluids, with a mask, gown, or face shield added based on the expected exposure risk.

3. 3.

   After a procedure, separate reusable instruments by contamination level and pre-clean (rinse/scrub) them before sterilization — items cannot be effectively sterilized with visible debris still on them.

4. 4.

   Load the autoclave correctly (proper spacing for steam penetration, pouches oriented per manufacturer instructions) rather than packing it as full as possible.

5. 5.

   Run the correct cycle (time, temperature, pressure) for the load and instrument type, and verify the cycle completed successfully using the autoclave's indicators.

6. 6.

   Use biological indicators on the schedule your office protocol requires (commonly weekly) to confirm the autoclave is actually achieving sterilization, not just running a cycle.

7. 7.

   Store sterilized instruments in their sealed pouches, checking expiration/integrity dates before use, and discard anything with a torn or compromised seal.

Quality Checkpoints (4)

Confirm each of these before considering the task complete.

• Hand hygiene happens before AND after every patient contact and every glove use — not glove use in place of hand hygiene.

• Instruments are pre-cleaned of visible debris before being loaded for sterilization.

• The autoclave load is spaced correctly, not overpacked, so steam can reach every surface.

• Biological indicator testing is done on schedule and the results are documented, not assumed.

Avoid These Mistakes

• ⚠

  Treating gloves as a replacement for hand hygiene instead of an addition to it.

• ⚠

  Overpacking the autoclave to get through instruments faster, which can prevent proper steam penetration and leave items under-sterilized.

• ⚠

  Skipping biological indicator testing because "the autoclave has always worked fine" — equipment failure isn't always obvious from the outside.

• ⚠

  Using a sterilized pouch with a torn seal because the instrument "looks clean," instead of discarding it and reprocessing.