Last week an updated article was posted on sonic cleaning - The cleaning equipment that produces powerful "tiny bubbles" that allow cleaning into hard to reach places like box locks. The article was originally written five years ago and needed to be updated. One of the major changes in the last five years is that both AORN and AAMI state that cleaning equipment, like sonic cleaners, needs a Quality Improvement Process to verify it is actually working. The majority of medical facilities have sonic equipment and they do need to be checked at least on a weekly basis. Too many times I have tested equipment that sounded like it was working, only to see it not pass both a cavitation (SonoCheckā¢) and cleaning test (TOSIā¢).
What is a bonus to this article is that CEUs are available for nurses as well as the CSSD staff.
So for those of you that have a sonic, remember that you have to make sure it is working to "Keep those Instruments Clean."