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In our everyday lives, keeping clean is important. For Central Sterile Services (CSS), cleanliness is its full-time job. CSS provides supplies and implantable devices, and reprocesses (cleans, disinfects, and sterilizes) instruments needed for a wide variety of areas. These include operating rooms, outpatient clinic and procedure areas, and research labs. Ensuring that UVA Health’s medical and research equipment is perfect and sterile is a vital aspect to delivering quality care to our patients and in ensuring our colleagues can advance medical science. To help accomplish this mission, CSS has installed new instrument washers.

The new washers were installed over a three-week period at the end of October into early November, helping assure CSS’s ability to support continued operations for UVA Health. “These particular washers are the backbone for most instrumentation needed,” says Kevin Elgin, Director of Central Sterile Services. “They are part of a critical ‘remanufacturing’ process to reuse critical instrumentation, making sure it is available in the right condition at the right time.”

Brittany Ellwood, Acting Manager, Sterile Processing Department, says that the new washers “offer additional wash cycles for UVA Health’s growing robotic program and have additional throughput capacity to support overall expanding operations. Prior equipment was nearly 20 years old, from around 2004, and at the end of useful life. It went offline often and was in constant need of servicing.”

Elgin and Ellwood noted that the installation of these new machines was a group effort, saying it could not have been accomplished without team members in Clinical Engineering, Facilities Planning and Services, and Infection Prevention and Control. “They were excellent partners in planning, executing, and delivering these new washers,” says Elgin. “We are very grateful for their collaboration.”

“Also, thank you to UVA Health leadership for financial support,” adds Elgin, “who helped us accomplish this significant milestone.”

Thank you to Elgin, Ellwood, and all involved in obtaining, installing, and putting to good use our new washers!