What are wet packs and why do they happen?

23rd August 2022
Top Tips

What are wet packs?

One of the worst things you will encounter after running a sterilisation cycle in your autoclave is evidence of moisture within the chamber or within the load itself. Wet packs are a common cause of contamination – excessive moisture can act as a pathogen pathway and cause recontamination of your sterilised instruments and equipment.

Did you know?

Over 28% of veterinary practices experience wet packs at least once a week*. This may not seem hugely concerning however wet packs are a sign that your equipment or your sterilisation process is not working as it should and there is something that needs immediate attention.

*NVS Decontamination & Sterilisation Survey April 2019

Why do they happen?

Wet packs can occur for a variety of reasons including for example; not following processes or overloading autoclaves and mechanical failure is also a major factor.

UPON NOTICING WET PACKS OR MOISTURE WITHIN THE AUTOCLAVE CHAMBER – STOP USING THE EQUIPMENT STRAIGHT AWAY AND CALL YOUR SERVICE TECHNICIAN IMMEDIATELY.

How do we prevent wet packs?

A good way to prevent wet packs is to implement a daily monitoring routine to ensure your equipment is working correctly. Autoclaves have built in monitoring systems that will indicate whether or not a cycle has reached the correct parameters (whether it has passed or failed). We cannot however rely on a single built in monitoring system to give us a full picture of the efficiency of that cycle. To reduce the risk of unsterile instruments or devices we therefore complete additional tests to verify the efficiency of our steriliser.

A basic and important verification product to us would be visual indicators such as TST test strips and autoclave tape.

National Veterinary Services
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