Effect of different pretreatments on preventing rusting of surgical instruments

OBJECTIVE To investigate the effect of different pretreatments on preventing rusting of surgical instruments,so as to provide evidence for the best pretreatment measures.METHODS Surgical forceps for obstetrics and gynecology operation were randomly divided in three groups and each group undergone different pretreatments:the first group with 3672 pieces were pretreated by rinsing and drying at room temperature from Jul.2014 and last30d;the second group with 1794 pieces were pretreated by rising and dried by clean towels from Aug.2014 and last 30d;the third group with 3790 pieces were pretreated by rinsing and medical humectants from Sep.2014 and last 30 d.All surgical instruments were collected at one time and inspected for rusting by CSSD.RESULTS The rusting rates of surgery instruments in three groups were 0.5% for the first group,0.2% for the second group,0.06%for the third group,and the difference was significant（P＜0.01）.CONCLUSION Medical humectant is an appropriate way of pretreatment to decrease the risks of surgical instrument rusting.