As the steam steriliser is a critical part of decontamination, verification of the machine’s ability to penetrate steam into a load is vital to ensure patient safety.
Emma Barrett and Richard Bancroft offer some advice on deciding which steam penetration verification test is right for your facility.
Throughout the UK and the rest of the world, fast-paced operating theatres rely on the quick and thorough decontamination of the critical instruments required to perform lifechanging and often lifesaving procedures, and, since its invention, nearly 140 years ago, the steam steriliser has remained a critical part of the decontamination process
The amount of energy needed to convert boiling water to steam is much larger than the energy required to simply heat water. In order to turn liquid water into gaseous steam, we must apply enough energy to overcome the heat of evaporation (sometimes known as the enthalpy of vaporisation). The amount of energy per molecule to convert boiling water to steam is seven times higher than the amount of energy per molecule to boil water; steam at 100 °C has seven times more energy than boiling water.
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