In order to promote the importance of sterilization in hospitals, Advanced Sterilization Products (ASP) conducted a series of workshops, inviting the CSSD managers for providing a platform to them to share their experiences among each other, and a one-day dedicated course on instrument reprocessing. The workshop proved beneficial to both the parties involved, as ENNs Rajesh K Sharma finds out

As healthcare in India improves, the number of surgeries being conducted is increasing as well. An estimated one million surgeries are conducted in India every year. These range from minor Laparoscopic surgeries, to major ones like a heart bypass. With such a high number of surgeries, the risk of Hospital Acquired Infections (HAI) or Nosocomical infections due to contaminated instruments poses a threat to the patients. As the science of surgeries advances with instruments that are more precise and delicate, sterilizing them poses a huge challenge. According to a report by the Global Antibiotic Resistance Partnership (GARP) – India Working Group and Centre for Disease Dynamics, Economics and Policy (CDDEP), hospitals in India have a high burden of infections in their intensive care units (ICU) and general wards, many of which are resistant to antibiotic treatment.
Currently, Nocomical infections account for nearly 25 percent of all infections in hospitals. A big reason for these infections is the improper instrument decontamination process. Methods that were effective just ten days ago are proving to be inadequate in this age of specialized tools.

“ASP designed a dedicated program instrument sterilization called SOTS or Science of Terminal Sterilization”

Advanced Sterilization Products (ASP) Division of Ethicon Inc, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson and an industry leader in infection prevention, conducted a market research to identify current challenges and unmet needs to determine market opportunities and gaps in Johnson & Johnsons product portfolio. It found that with weak sterilization guidelines and no sterilization certification program, there is a big gap between hospital protocols and actual practice as far as HAI is concerned. The research found that there is a need for ongoing education and scientific knowledge for Central Sterile Services Department (CSSD).
Taking a cue from the findings, ASP designed a dedicated program instrument sterilization called SOTS or Science of Terminal Sterilization, a one day unique educational conclave to spread the awareness of HAI among hospital professionals, as well as improve the compliance to instrument sterilization by highlighting its STERRAD line of instrum

ents built specially for this purpose. It also conducted a series of workshops to promote sterilization of medical instruments across various cities in India. The workshops, called the Science of Terminal Sterilization (SOTS) workshops were held in Coimbatore, Hyderabad, Cochin, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkotta, Pune and New Delhi.
Spread across the months of June, July and August, SOTS featured participation from hospitals across India. This attracted many STERRAD end users from across the country to the SOTS seminars in whichever city they were held.
The workshops stressed on learning about the importance of sterilization through a game-based module that was designed, that saw the attendees collaborate and compete among each other as teams. In a section titled Life in Device, the attendees were asked to talk about their experiences in using STER and how similar or different the experiences were.
A feature that dwelt upon was how to build the confidence in the product by improving it technologically. The end users gave their sug gestions on how to improve STERRAD and make it more relevant in the fight against HAIs. ASP took note of all the suggestions in its quest to improve its product.
Ways to engage the customer was also discussed at each of the SOTS workshops. Sterilization of surgical instruments has increased in importance as well as complexity, and training the CSSD professionals is essential to improve compliance sterilization.
The workshops proved to be an eye opener for all involved. While the attendees benefitted from gaining more knowledge about how to use their STERRAD machines more efficiently, ASP too gained knowledge about how the healthcare industry professionals approached sterilization, and how its STERRAD line of products could be improved upon to be the de facto machine to achieve sterilization of instruments. In all, the workshops and conferences managed to train nearly 550 managers across India.

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