The 2018 Excellence in Surgical Products Awards will be presented in the November/December issue of Surgical Products. Leading up to the publication of that issue, nominees will be featured on the Surgical Products website.
Category: Infection Control
Product description and innovation synopsis:
The 3M Attest Super Rapid Biological Indicator (BI) System for Steam helps make every load monitoring a reality for sterile processing departments. Designed to indicate whether any bacterial spores remain alive after exposure to the sterilization process, it detects the activity of a naturally-occurring enzyme that breaks down an indicator in the growth medium releasing a fluorescent by-product detected by the auto-reader. The Super Rapid BI System for Steam enables a BI readout in 24 minutes. It also meets ISO and FDA performance requirements for BIs.
(Image credit: 3M)
What sets this product apart from others available in the industry?
Every minute matters when it comes to patient safety. Historically BI readouts took hours or days to process, forcing many sterile processing departments to either send instruments into surgery before confirming the BI result or hold them until the BI readout was available. The Attest Super Rapid Biological Indicator System for Steam has an unprecedented speed of test results — just 24 minutes. With this system, there’s no need to hold instruments for an extended period of time as all loads can be easily quarantined until results are known, making every load monitoring truly feasible.
How does this product benefit the surgical team and aid in better outcomes?
The surgical team needs confidence that every instrument entering the operating room is safe and ready for use. Waiting for a traditional BI readout, which takes hours or days, can result in delayed surgeries, instrument shortages, or inadequately sterilized instruments being used in surgery. The Attest Super Rapid Biological Indicator System for Steam provides a readout in 24 minutes, not only giving the sterile processing department the speed it needs to know whether the sterilization process was successful before releasing instruments for use, but it provides the surgical team confidence that they can deliver the level of safety all patients deserve.
