Final answer:
Cleaning is important as it removes physical debris and bioburden, making sterilization or disinfection processes effective. Sterilization requires intensive protocols reserved for critical objects entering the body, while regular cleaning suffices for non-invasive items. Cleaning reduces microbial load, improving subsequent sterilization or disinfection effectiveness.
Step-by-step explanation:
Cleaning is important as a first step because it removes physical debris and bioburden before any other part of the decontamination process. This initial step is essential to ensure that subsequent sterilization or disinfection methods can be effective. Without cleaning, organic material can protect microorganisms from the effects of sterilizing agents. Additionally, cleaning reduces the microbial load, decreasing the time and intensity required for complete sterilization or disinfection to occur.
Cleaning does not destroy microorganisms but rather removes them along with any physical debris. For items that are considered critical, such as surgical instruments that come into contact with sterile tissues, a higher level of cleanliness, sterilization, is required. This ensures that all vegetative cells, endospores, and viruses are removed or killed, eliminating the risk of infection. Sterilization might involve physical means like high heat and pressure, or chemical means through sterilants, and it is impractical for items not intended for invasive procedures due to its high resource and labor intensity, and potential degradation of the items.
Therefore, cleaning is crucial even when sterilization is intended, as it allows the sterilization process to be more effective by reducing the amount of bioburden that must be neutralized. Disposable items, although not cleaned for reuse, do not need to undergo a cleaning process before disposal because it does not contribute significantly to the reduction of the waste stream. Moreover, cleaning is not effective at destroying all microorganisms, hence the need for further steps such as sterilization for applications demanding the highest levels of cleanliness.