Question

If a paper-plastic peel pouch falls to the floor after it was completely cooled and sterilized, what is the best action to take?

Question 2 options:

Check for holes

Completely reprocess the instrument

Send it to the OR for a STAT case

Put the item in a new pouch in the packaging area and resterilize

Answer 1

Put the item in a new pouch in the packaging area and resterilize.

This is because the paper-plastic peel pouch is no longer sterile because as soon as the pouch fell to the ground, it became contaminated.

Answer 2

Put the item in a new pouch in the packaging area and resterilize

Step-by-step explanation:

If an object has been sterilized it is completely without any microorganism in it. That is, this object is clean, but that does not mean that it is immune to contamination by microorganism, this contamination will happen when this sterilized object comes into contact with a contaminating environment, in which case the object must be resterilized.

An example of this can be seen in the question above, where a paper-plastic peel pouch that was sterilized fell to the floor. The floor is a highly contaminated environment, so the bag has become contaminated and should be resterilized.