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Section 2: Cleaning, Disinfecting, and Sterilizing Patient-Care Equipment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

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Extract

Cleaning, the physical removal of organic material or soil from objects, is usually done by using water with or without detergents. Generally, cleaning is designed to remove rather than to kill microorganisms. Sterilization, on the other hand, is the destruction of all forms of microbial life; it is carried out in the hospital with steam under pressure, liquid or gaseous chemicals, or dry heat. Disinfection, defined as the intermediate measures between physical cleaning and sterilization, is carried out with pasteurization or chemical germicides.

Type
Research Article
Information
Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology , Volume 7 , Issue 4 , April 1986 , pp. 236 - 240
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America 1986

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