Our company was recently involved in the reconstruction of the central sterilization department at the Jindřichův Hradec Hospital. It is a healthcare facility providing acute care in the district with the largest area in the Czech Republic, located in an area that is one of the most popular recreational regions, known for its beautiful nature and a large number of historical landmarks.
As a healthcare provider, it serves a population of 92,000 people, annually hospitalizes about 14,500 patients, and performs approximately 95,000 outpatient examinations. Currently, the hospital has over 350 beds across fourteen departments.
Our role typically involves supplying equipment to the central sterilization department. It is a specialized workplace that, due to the nature of its activities, plays an irreplaceable role in the prevention of hospital infections and thus contributes to safe, comprehensive patient health care. It ensures the pre-sterilization preparation and sterilization of medical devices not only for the operating rooms and other departments of the hospital but also for external clients in the surrounding area.
Sterilization of medical devices is always carried out in compliance with current legislation and according to the manufacturer's recommendations for these devices. The entire sterilization process is validated, controlled with prescribed tests, permanently documented, and complies with the regulations set out by the Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic, Decree No. 306/2012 Coll., concerning hygiene requirements for healthcare facilities, and the relevant valid ČSN EN ISO standards.
The central sterilization department is currently equipped with our modern medical equipment, and its operation is ensured by qualified staff. It is located in Pavilion E, on the 4th floor. The department has undergone a major reconstruction, and the safety of patients is now supported by the staff as well as by our new steam sterilizers, which replaced the old and non-functional devices from the competing company Getinge after twenty years.
Patients do not see this department, but a significant portion of their health is decided here. The central sterilization department ensures that only absolutely sterile instruments reach the operating rooms and other departments.
Demolition, reconstruction, installation of new devices, training, testing... the central sterilization department underwent all of this in just a few days, which was a very challenging task for the BMT service department. The reconstruction required surgeries to be limited for one week only. The sterilization process was therefore restored to normal in a record time. A new dishwasher and, most importantly, three new steam sterilizers began to help the nurses in their work.
The central sterilization department in the hospital is directly connected to the central operating rooms. All instruments from the operating rooms are returned after use for sterilization. First, they are decontaminated in a special solution, followed by machine washing of the instruments in the washers, where thermal disinfection takes place, and then the instruments are sent for so-called setting. Nurses must carefully check the sharpness and functionality of each instrument, lubricate the locks and, if necessary, send it for service. For each surgical procedure, a precise list of instruments is given, according to which the nurses set the instruments.
After setting, the steam sterilization follows. The entire sterilization cycle from bringing in the instruments to taking them out takes about 45 minutes, and the sterilization exposure itself takes seven minutes at 134 °C. The nurses then remove the sterilized instruments from the other side of the steam sterilizers in the sterile material warehouse. They are then prepared for the instrument operators in containers marked according to the individual surgical fields and can go straight to the operating room.
It is also worth mentioning that a special feature of this hospital are the operating rooms decorated with nature motifs, such as a mountain stream, a sandy beach, the peaks of the Tatras or a field of blooming poppies. This is the view that patients will see when the medical staff brings them to the operating room. Special washable wallpapers now cover an entire wall in all five operating rooms at the Jindřichův Hradec Hospital.
The view of the beauty of nature not only makes the work of the operating room staff more pleasant, but also brings a welcome distraction to patients before surgery. Each wallpaper is said to have a calming effect. Patients reportedly react positively to the wallpapers and these are a nice change of scenery for them before anaesthesia is administered instead of looking at the white hospital environment.
Let us believe that our devices will also be used in this district hospital for the benefit of not only the hospital staff, but also the patients, whose lives are often dependent on the reliability of our devices.
20. 02. 2025
