Exploration of Most Difficult-to-Sterilize Location in Pulse Vacuum Sterilizers

ObjectiveThe present study aims to explore the most difficult-to-sterilize location within the chamber of pulse vacuum sterilizers, providing a reference for the placement of biological monitoring packs during routine operation.MethodUsing temperature and pressure detectors, temperature testing was conducted on 16 identical models of pulse vacuum sterilizers in four Grade Ⅲ-A hospitals under different loading conditions, including no-load, instrument load, and dressing load. The location of the slowest heating point within the sterilizer chamber was determined.ResultStatistics from 43 batches, totaling 258 data points show that the slowest heating point appeared most frequently at the lower level of the sterilizing rack, near the loading door, occurring 29 times, accounting for 67.44%; the location at the upper level of the sterilizing rack near the loading door occurred 14 times, accounting for 32.56%.ConclusionThe most difficult-to-sterilize locations for this model of pulse vacuum sterilizer were near the loading side door, with the highest probability at the lower-level location near the door. Therefore, it is recommended to place the biological monitoring pack at the lower level of the sterilizing rack, near the loading side door, during routine biological monitoring.