How Has COVID-19 Changed Hygiene and Sterilization in Medical Offices

The advent of COVID-19 has changed no shortage of habits and practices in all industries. Today, we’re going to talk about hygiene and sterilization practices in medical and veterinary offices and clinics.

The sterilization practices in a well-run medical or veterinary office should be unchanged. These types of offices/businesses were using autoclaves before COVID-19, and they are still using autoclaves to sterilize instruments and materials just like before. Autoclaves are the state-of-the-art machine for sterilization of instruments in medical environments.

Hygiene practices, however, are likely more stringent than they were before. All medical and veterinary offices in western Canada are requiring personnel to wear masks inside at all times. Clutter has been removed from waiting rooms, and people wait outside for appointments. Anyone entering the office is asked to use hand sanitizer immediately. In veterinary clinics, pet owners are typically not entering the clinic at all but waiting in the parking lot—only the animal goes inside.

All surfaces like counters and handles are disinfected multiple times daily, although we now know the risk of transmission for COVID-19 is very low on surfaces and much more likely to be transmitted by air.

In medical and veterinary practices, the staff were already used to good hand-washing technique. However, it is likely that staff wash their hands more frequently than they used to, but this is not something that is regulated by public health. Frequent hand washing and good technique has become a major safeguard in preventing the transmission of COVID-19.

Alpha Scientific supplies, installs, and services medical equipment in western Canada. If you have any questions about this article or would like to talk to us about medical equipment, please call our toll-free number, (888) 818-4847, or email us at sales@alphascientific.ca.