Ultrasonic cleaner for surgical instruments
Dear Sally,
I have general questions about ultrasonic cleaners and how to choose a size. We have a dermatology office that sees between 50 and 100 people per day...our hinged surgical instruments are all roughly the same size, the largest of which is approximately 8 inches when completely opened. We usually wash about 30 pieces by hand on an average day...forceps, scissors, etc. I don't want to buy too small a unit, but the doctor doesn't want to buy larger ultrasonic tank than we need (obviously!)
I also was wondering about how often the chemicals need to be changed. We would rinse off surgical debris before placing the items in the cleaner, but I don't know how many times you can re-use the chemicals.
Thanks for your time and information.
Raylene B.
Dear Raylene,
You have a lot of questions here, so let's take them one by one. First of all, you need at least a B3510MTH ultrasonic cleaner to get the size tank that will work. I am assuming that you want to do multiple instruments at a time.
As far as the solution goes, you would want to change it when it begins to lose effectiveness. You will see that it is either taking longer to get the parts clean, or the parts don't get as clean in a given ultrasonic cycle time. Alternatively, you can change it when it starts to look or smell funky. Our most popular solution for this is Bransonic MC3 Metal Cleaner. It is an emulsifying agent, which means that the soils will be held in suspension, and can't re-deposit on your parts. It is also aluminum safe. I am sure most of your instruments are stainless steel, but this way you won't have to worry if some aluminum gets into the mix.
