Method for detecting the cleanliness of a medical device

摘要

A method for monitoring a cleaning process for a soiled medical device. The method involves cleaning the soiled device with a cleaning liquid in a cleaning chamber, exposing a detector to the cleaning liquid to measure the amount of soil removed, determining whether a sufficient amount of the soil has been removed from the soiled device so that the soiled device can be sterilized, and sterilizing the soiled device. One method of determining the amount of soil is by detecting the signal generated from the reaction between a chemical and the soil. Another method is to provide a soiled standard and measure the amount of soil removed from the soiled standard to determine whether enough soil has been removed from the soiled standard so that the soiled device can be sterilized. Another method involves measuring the amount of soil removed from the soiled device with at least two detectors.