Because some cleaners can harm plastic surfaces over time, the use of some cleaning products could harm medical devices, according to an article on the Outpatient Surgery website.
Different cleaners are compatible with different plastics, so there's no single cleaner or process that's safe for all medical devices.
For instance, stress cracking occurs when the repeated use of incompatible chemical agents degrades the integrity of plastics.
"Any medical device that has a plastic component is susceptible," Jaime Schlorff, senior project officer, health devices group, for ECRI, said in the article. "There are different kinds of plastics, and different cleaners are compatible with different kinds of plastics."
Contaminants Under Foot: A Closer Look at Patient Room Floors
Power Outages Largely Driven by Extreme Weather Events
Nemours Children's Health Opens New Moseley Foundation Institute Hospital
Code Compliance Isn't Enough for Healthcare Resilience
Ribbon Cutting Marks First Phase Completion for New Montefiore Einstein Facility