UAE health authorities review protocols for maintaining safe healthcare facilities

Dubai, UAE: Health authorities in the UAE implement strict protocols ensure that hospital departments responsible for decontamination and sterilisation apply effective sanitisation processes for medical devices and spaces that patients reside in. Infection control and CSSD departments in the UAE must mutually be involved in the development of sterilisation and disinfection policies and procedures by applying internationally accepted recommendations and practices.

A hospital’s central sterile supply department’s major function is to provide surgical instruments and medical equipment to the medical staff that have been thoroughly decontaminated to render them bacteria free and safe to use during patient’s operation or medical procedure.

“The Health Authority Abu Dhabi (HAAD) carries out detailed audits of our policies, procedures, equipment and facilities as well as ensuring that all caregivers in the UAE meet strict qualification requirements to ensure they are competent to care for patients safely,” says Jason Unger, Manager, Sterile Processing, Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, UAE.

Unger moderated the 10th Decontamination and Sterilisation Conference at Patient Safety Middle East Exhibition and Conferences that continues tomorrow (6th October) at the Dubai International Exhibition & Convention Centre. The conference discusses the best practices in decontamination and sterilisation processes to ensure patients in the UAE receive the highest quality of care.

“To ensure that all items are thoroughly decontaminated, we use standard precautions which means we clean, disinfect and sterilize all instruments under the assumption that they are contaminated,” says Unger.

The general process for the decontamination and sterilisation of medical instruments implemented in hospitals in the UAE requires that units are designed with a minimum of three unidirectional compartments where instruments move from the cleaning/wash room, where items are inspected and put through a thorough disinfection process, to a clean room for packing and sterilization and finally to a sterile storage room. This design prevents items from moving backwards and eliminates the chance of cross contamination.