Ultrasons en stérilisation : enquête sur le suivi des recommandations

In order to apprehend using practices of ultrasonic equipment in medical devices cleaning process, a study was conducted in sterilization services and data collected were compared with current recommendations. Methodology: A questionnaire has been sent to 35 pharmacists participant in a sterilization training, as student or teacher. Results: On 18 answered establishments, 14 used ultrasonic equipment in their sterilization process. Results showed that some recommendations was most respected: using a washing machine as soon as possible for cleaning (11/14), using a detergent or pre-disinfectant in ultrasonic bath (14/14) and consistently rinsing devices after ultrasonic cleaning (11/14). Other recommendations was less respected: soft water for ultrasonic bath (2/14), frequencies between 25 and 50 kHz (8/14), temperature between 40 and 45 °C (3/14). Conclusion: This study showed a great heterogeneity in using practices of ultrasonic equipments which can be explained by sterilized medical devices diversity and by ultrasonic equipment diversity. In addition, whereas simple and effective controlled tests exist, only 3 establishments controlled correct performance of their equipment, whereof only one controlled it regularly.