?:definition
|
-
Equipment designed for the automatic or semiautomatic removal of dirt and/or stains (i.e., washing) from instruments, utensils, labware, devices, laundry, and/or other objects using physical and/or chemical procedures. Washers typically perform a cycle of operations that may include prewash, enzyme treatment, detergent washing, and rinse. Dedicated washers are used to clean surgical instruments and/or ancillary devices, hospital carts, and laundry and to clean equipment in clinical laboratories (e.g., labware, pipettes, microplates, cuvettes). Washers that mechanically remove contaminants by scrubbing or using water jets or ultrasound energy (i.e., performing some kind of physical decontamination) are considered washer/decontamination units; those devices may also provide some degree of disinfection.
|