AUTOCLAVE

Typical Number in Hospital: 6

Cost Bands: 3,4

References: 2

Metal surgical instruments, and some rubbers and plastics may be sterilized by high-temperature steam. An autoclave is a sealed pressure vessel which exhausts the air and then admits steam under pressure (which can therefore be maintained at a temperature considerably above boiling point in atmospheric air). Since the air has been removed the steam will penetrate every part of the instruments being sterilized. Afterwards the chamber is evacuated again leaving the instruments dry.

Small autoclaves will operate from the electricity supply but larger types use the piped steam supplies. Instruments are often packed in special porous paper wrapping, sealed with an indicator tape, on which bands change colour when the sterilizing process is complete.