Investigate the use of vacuum packaging technology to preserve the sterile package to extend the shelf life of the sterile package.
Methods 420 sterile bags and 210 test groups were used. According to the requirements of aseptic technique, the aseptic package was packaged and stored by vacuum packaging technology. The remaining 210 were used as control group and stored according to conventional packaging. The package is stored in a sterile cabinet at the same time, and 30 bags are regularly pumped for bacterial culture.
RESULTS: After storage, the aseptic package began to grow long bacteria in the 8th month of the test group and the first month in the control group. The positive rate of bacterial culture in the control group after storage was significantly higher than that in the experimental group. Significant statistical significance|
Conclusion The vacuum packaging technology is used to package and store the aseptic package, which extends the shelf life of the aseptic package and can be stored for up to 6 months.
In daily medical work, the length of the aseptic package is affected by the packaging materials and the preservation environment [1, 2]. At present, most hospitals in China still use cotton cloth to package aseptic bags. Some literatures [3] report that their preservation period is 1 to 2 weeks. Clinically, there is often a situation in which it is not used. The sterile bag that exceeds the expiration date needs to be re-sterilized, which increases the workload and increases the loss of the contents of the bag, resulting in an increase in medical costs. Therefore, in order to open source and reduce expenditures, to make full use of limited medical and health resources in order to achieve maximum cost-effectiveness, it is very important to improve the packaging method of aseptic packages to extend the validity period. From March 2004 to January 2005, our hospital conducted a comparative study on the storage period of 420 aseptic packages using vacuum packaging technology and conventional packaging technology, and discussed the shelf life of the vacuum packaging technology aseptic package, which is reported below.
1. Materials and methods
1.1, material sterilization package 420 (each package contains 1 gauze, 2 cotton balls, 1 catheter, 1 herringbone, 1 blade, 1 needle, 1 test tube), sterile 420 polyethylene plastic bags and 1 vacuum packaging machine.
1.2, method disinfection package according to the conventional high-pressure steam sterilization, drying, cooling, according to the requirements of aseptic technical operation principle, take 210 bags of a single coat of a sterile polyethylene plastic bag (microwave sterilization), vacuum packaging Technical sealing mouth, this is the test group; the remaining 210 are the control group, which is routinely preserved. The two groups are stored together in a sterile cabinet. The two groups were periodically taken out of 30 packages for bacterial culture, and cultured once in the second week of preservation, once a month in the first to fourth months, and once every two months thereafter.
1.3. Judging the standard sterile bag contents through the laboratory bacterial culture, aseptic growth is qualified, and bacteria growth is unqualified.
2, the results
The contents of the sterile bag of the control group (conventional storage) were positive for bacterial culture in the first month of storage, and the contents of the sterile bag of the test group (vacuum packaging) were positive for bacterial culture at the 8th month of storage; 1 to 8 months, the positive rate of bacterial culture of the two groups of packaging methods in the control group and the experimental group was significantly higher than the latter, and the difference was statistically significant. The test results show that the vacuum packaging technology packs and preserves the aseptic package, which significantly prolongs the validity period of the aseptic package. The effective packaging period of the test group can be extended to 6 months.
3 Discussion
3.1. Reasons for bacterial growth of sterile packaging in conventional packaging and vacuum packaging.
The results of this study showed that the sterile package in vacuum packaging had bacterial growth only at the 8th month of storage, whereas the sterile package of the control group had bacterial growth in the first month of storage. It has been reported in the literature in China that the first-aid kit can be stored in a treated car for up to 157 days after being sealed with a common plastic bag. Jiang Zhixia et al [4] sealed the sterile package after conventional sterilization with a plastic bag for 3 months. According to our material analysis, the bacterial culture in the vacuum packaged sterile package was still negative at the 6th month of storage; at the 8th month, although the vacuum packaged aseptic package was mostly negative for bacterial culture, this was still a negative result. The positive rate of bacterial culture is as high as 20%, so it is not appropriate to extend the shelf life. Therefore, the author believes that the vacuum package can be used for up to 6 months.
3.2, the cost-effectiveness of vacuum packaging aseptic package
The hospital's emergency department, operating room, supply room, etc., for emergency patients or special surgery and special examinations, are equipped with tracheotomy, emergency delivery, venous incision, etc., these packets are not used, but Unprepared and affected the patient's rescue, treatment, and endanger the patient's life safety. The application of vacuum technology to package these aseptic packages for a longer period of time is beneficial to improve the quality of medical care and has good social benefits [5,6]. At the same time, it can save energy, reduce the loss of articles, save the time for nurses to repeatedly sterilize, deliver, and take the package. If the cost is calculated, the cost of repeated treatment and sterilization will be about 10 yuan per time. Our hospital re-disinfects 50 treatments per day, which can save 182,500 yuan per year; therefore, the application of vacuum technology packaging aseptic package has obvious economic benefits. It has been reported in the literature that the shelf life of aseptic packages for special material packaging (leather, paper, nylon) can be extended to 12 months [7,8]. Bhumisirikul et al [9] reported that the shelf life can be as long as 96 weeks after double-layered linen or double-layer plastic paper combined with autoclaving. Due to the high packaging materials of these methods, it has not yet been promoted and applied in China.
3.3, the key technology of vacuum packaging aseptic package
The key part of this technology is that the sterilization package must be dried, cooled, and then vacuum packed. Sterile bags packaged in vacuum technology are used for 8 months to maintain bacterial growth. For the sake of caution, the period of sterility can be set at 6 months. The method is simple and easy to operate, has low investment, and has no residual toxicity, is safe and reliable, and is convenient to carry. Applicable to all types of hospitals, with promotional value.