ISO infection control policies

[Becka]

There was a conflict between myself (LPN) and the OR tech at work today (isn't that what prompts so many calls for help? lol) and now I'm hoping for some assistance from someone here.

We do ambulatory GYN surgery at our center that is wholly and privately owned by the Dr. This means things are a little more 'unstructured' than some other places I've worked. There are no written policies for a lot of things.

A meeting has been called for tomorrow. I know the rationale for my position but I'm hoping to be able to move this event up a few notches from the 'emotional response' level, which it is at right now. If any of you have examples of already written policies (i.e. available right now) and are willing to share them, I would really appreciate it.

Specifically looking for policies regarding:

1. Dating of instrument packs that are run through a steam autoclave and standards relating to labeling of the pack with both, the date of sterilization as well as date of expiration.

2. Running expired packs back through the autoclave in the same pack, without re-wrapping.

3. Leaving used/dirty instruments soaking overnight and/or over the weekend. (They're rinsed and left in a stainless pan in the sink of the OR tech's decontam room.)

Thanks in advance for your help! I'll let you know the outcome of the meeting. (Though the Dr. I work for seems to have an infinite capacity for denial and an unseemly aversion to conflict resolution.)

Becka