AAMI releases four amendments to steam sterilization standard

Editor's Note

The Association for Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI), on January 20, released four amendments to the “ANSI/AAMI ST79 Comprehensive guide to steam sterilization and sterility assurance in healthcare facilities.”

Among the additions:

• recommendations and clarifications for maintaining the integrity of the sterile processing area, including common sense additions, such as no food or drink in the area
• recommendations on how often sterilizers in healthcare facilities should be cleaned
• recommendations for instrument inspection processes, recognizing that borescopes and ATP monitoring enable more thorough inspections.

The amended document is available at https://www.aami.org/standards/ansi-aami-st79 .