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St. Joseph's Medical Center <br />Policies and Procedures <br />304.0 SPORE TESTING <br />304.1 POLICY <br />A spore test will be completed a minimum of once per month in the medical waste steam <br />sterilizer to verify the efficacy of the sterilization process. <br />1. All spore test packets will have the expiration date written legibly on the front. The date <br />on the packet must be checked before using the test strip. At no time may an expired test <br />strip be used. <br />2. The test strip will be placed on one of the bags in a sterilizer cart. <br />3. At the end of the cycle the strip will be removed. It will be taken to the clinical lab for <br />evaluation. <br />4. The results of the test will be kept on file in the housekeeping office. <br />5. If the spore test comes back positive from the Lab another spore test must be completed <br />immediately, following the above procedures. All other parameters for evaluating the <br />efficacy of the steam sterilizer must be checked after each load. Those parameters <br />include: <br />a. The temperature graph must indicate that the load reached 270 degrees for a <br />minimum of 45 minutes. <br />b. The indicator strips must be checked on the autoclave bags and must indicate that <br />the load was appropriately sterilized. <br />6. If any of the above parameters are not achieved, policy 307.0 CONTINGENCY PLAN <br />FOR WASTE EQUIPMENT FAILURE must be implemented immediately and followed <br />until the problem is resolved. <br />7. If the spore test comes back positive again policy 307.0 CONTINGENCY PLAN FOR <br />EQUIPMENT FAILURE must be implemented immediately and followed until the <br />problem is resolved. <br />8. Spordi test are to be placed in the center of the sterilization cart for maximum efficiency. <br />Revised 6/2004 <br />Reviewed 7/13/2007 <br />Reviewed 6/2009 <br />Revised 4/2012010 <br />