How does a sluice machine work

However, if practical, the room may contain a louvered window to allow air from outside to flow into the room. The sluice room should also contain fluorescent lighting and a lockable fire door. In addition, all pipe-work should be concealed and equipment should be fitted to provide optimum hygiene conditions.

Content and compliance A sluice room should not be used as a storage facility for clean items and should never hold clean items alongside dirty ones. General clean consumables should be stored in a separate clean utility room. DDC Dolphin also note that sluice room design and equipment requirements also depend on whether hospital wards use disposable pulp or reusable bedpans and urine bottles, as this will guide the choice of machine to be fitted — either a disposable pulp macerator or a thermal disinfection unit.

Hickman, who authored an article published in the Journal of the Institute of Hospital Engineering in ,2 recommends that using disposable bedpans and a macerator is preferable as it reduces the risk of infection and also minimises engineering time. With a bedpan washer, the danger is that the machine failure, i.

Temperature sensors However, modern bedpan washers provide advanced technology whereby a sensor performs a check after every cycle to ensure the correct temperature has been reached. In addition, the control display will report any malfunction. Many hospitals also include the use of a slop hopper where body fluids can be disposed and flushed.

Although not essential, it is very common in UK hospital sluice rooms. Ideally, bulk clinical waste should be stored in a separate lockable room while awaiting collection. However, temporary clinical waste bins and the facility for the disposal of sharps are often found in sluice rooms.

If this is the case and if possible, these should be stored on the opposite side of the room from the bedpan washers and wall storage rack. Take a look at our sluice room checklist to ensure your sluice room has all the equipment it needs to function effectively.

The same will apply to single-use incontinence products, such as pads and nappies. None of these items can be thrown into a regular bin, as they pose a serious risk to human health. If the sluice room is badly designed, with poor equipment and insufficient procedures, disposing of human waste can be slow and inefficient.

In turn, clinicians can risk spreading dangerous pathogens inside and outside of the sluice room , as well as spending too long dealing with auxiliary tasks. If bacteria are allowed to spore, it could result in a major outbreak of infection in your facility. Illnesses such as C. A sluice room contributes to good infection control, straight from the design stages; it should have a clear workflow, where clinicians can easily travel from one workstation to the next, without spreading germs.

Similarly, walls should be easy to wipe clean, and floors simple to mop, with no cracks or indents. Once the waste and receptacle have been dealt with, healthcare professionals need to ensure that they are not transmitting bacteria. To do this they should first dispose of any personal protective equipment PPE such as their gloves and coveralls, they should then thoroughly decontaminate their hands and lower arms, to prevent any onward transfer of harmful organisms.

A sluice room should be designed with infection prevention in mind, to eliminate the risk of transmitting infection to both healthcare professionals and patients. It is crucial that sluice rooms are used in the way they were designed, to reduce potential cross contamination of dangerous bacteria.

If, for example, a contaminated item is placed on a surface where it is not intended, the bacteria may begin to spore on that surface, putting others at risk of infection. Healthcare professionals should therefore carefully follow all guidelines put in place by the healthcare facility. These guidelines might include, procedures for how waste should be disposed of, effective hand washing procedures and guidance on how a sluice room should be cleaned and disinfected.

The disposal of human waste is a very important consideration for hospitals, insufficient procedures could lead to wasted nurse time and a heightened risk of infection. In response to inadequate procedures, Vernacare pioneered the full system solution more than 50 years ago.

Hospital macerators are regarded as the safest and most hygienic method of waste disposal. At Vernacare we produce a full range of pulp toileting products that can be disposed of after use in a macerator, ensuring that every patient receives a clean container every time and eliminating the risk of cross infection. The wide range of models available in this line solves any installation problem for completely furnished sluice rooms or for assisted bathrooms without additional costs and with the advantage of fast installation and assembly both in new structures and, above all, when renovating old structures or replacing old machines.

There are different solutions for installing bedpan washers : on the floor, wall-hung or built-in. Moreover, it is possible to install the compact solution which combines slop-sinks, basins and cabinets. These combined sluice units, adaptable to individual customer requirements, can be delivered with a single water supply and drain system.

AT-OS supports its customers providing technical documentation installation drawings, customised layouts, plumbing and electrical connection drawings for turn key utility room projects.

As a result One of the biggest concerns surrounding every Central Sterile Department in hospitals and nurseries is a bacterium called Clostridium AT-OS designs, manufactures and distributes bedpan washer disinfectors and other human waste containers, such as urinals, supports for disposable Working in a medical lab is demanding. Precautionary practices can be time-consuming and yet necessary. Time and usability need