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Insider's Guide to Cleaning Lap Instruments

Putting It All Together

Instruments that can be disassembled pose a new problem for decontamination: training your people how to put them back together.  your staff will need to learn how to take the instruments apart, and they'll learn that very quickly.   But unless the instruments are reassembled properly, they won't function correctly in surgery.  And reassembly is the hardest part.

Take trumpet valves, for example.   These can-- and should-- be taken apart for cleaning and sterilization, because they have parts that are sealed off and unreachable.  To clean them, you have to press down on the valve and brush in one direction.  Then you have to disassemble and brush in the other direction to clean the barrels out and allow the plunger to move up and down freely.

Most people do a great job of taking these valve apart and cleaning them.  but putting them back together is another story; it's a lot more difficult.  The key to avoiding problems is proper assembly and alignment.  It's a matter of lining up a groove and a pin in the valve, and also remembering to put lubricant in that groove if it's recommended by the manufacturer.  Lubricating the groove itself is important, because that's where metal slides on metal.

It's Imperative that your instrument vendor teaches you the techniques for proper assembly.  The vendor should also provide you with the parts lists, so you can keep in stock the little springs, caps, and pins that are so easy to lose during this process.

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