Safe Handling and Biological Decontamination of Reusable Medical Devices in Health Care Facilities and in Nonclinical Settings

Published by	Publication Date	Number of Pages
AAMI	03/17/2003	82

Category: AAMI

Description

AAMI ST35 – Safe Handling and Biological Decontamination of Reusable Medical Devices in Health Care Facilities and in Nonclinical Settings

This recommended practice covers the safe handling and biological decontamination of reusablemedical devices, including design criteria for decontamination areas in health care facilities; staffqualifications, education, and other personnel considerations; immediate handling ofcontaminated items; transport of contaminated items; and decontamination processes. Thisrecommended practice also includes definitions of terms and reference documents, as well asinformative annexes providing supplementary information on the principles of infectiontransmission; the selection and use of chemical disinfectants; thermal disinfection; the safehandling and decontamination of medical devices returned to manufacturers for servicing, repair,or failure investigation; and the OSHA bloodborne pathogen regulation.