Sterilizing injection pen cartridges

[PickleRN]

These are just my most educated guesses - as far as the difference in temperatures between food and the sterilization of injectable tools, it comes down to the fact that when you inject something you are bypassing all of the body’s natural defense systems - skin, stomach acid, enzymes, and the immune system in your gut.
The most common form of bacteria seen in wounds is staphylococcus. If you maintain excellent hand hygiene, use alcohol swabs before you pin and keep a dedicated area that is clean you’re doing good. As for sterilizing the cartridges, I would agree with everyone else who said that it’s a good idea to make sure that they are sterilized.

 

[PickleRN]

FWIW, we have a test group going on right now at FPPG Test Group that is testing 4-5 various vendors' pen cartridges if anyone is interested.

I am interested

 

[Jolly Molly]

I am interested

Can I share links here or DM you? I don't want to break group rules.

 

[scarywood75]

Can I share links here or DM you? I don't want to break group rules.

It's a paid test, you still want the link?

 

[Jolly Molly]

It's a paid test, you still want the link?

LOL, I made the testing group. I've got the link. I was asking about sharing it with PickleRN.

 

[Mr. Smith]

Just curious. How does this affect the rubber. I got some recently from Heaven's store Aliexpress. The rubber stoppers seemed very difficult to move. It almost takes brute force to get them started. I purchased others from EZPENS that uses steam sterilization and those rubber stoppers move very nicely, very smooth.

I think just applying heat, would dry the rubber out? The steam process wouldn't do that. Rubber is a pesty product when it comes to exposure to heat and UV. Just look at what happens to the rubber parts of your car.

 

[Sam90078]

Suprised with the instapot conversation noone has share this study again

Assessment and verification of commercially available pressure cookers for laboratory sterilization - PMC

Laboratory science requires careful maintenance of sterile reagents and tools as well as the sterilization of waste prior to disposal. However, steam autoclaves typically used for this purpose may not be readily accessible to everyone in the ...

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

They talk about a few different presure cookers and the

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Instant Pot​

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IP-DUO80​

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In this work, we assessed the viability of four brands of 8-quart pressure cooker to sterilize biological consumables and instrumentation. All four brands inactivated the microbes contaminating microbiological culture media and on metal implements within 15 mins and 30 mins of run time, respectively. The pressure cookers tested also inactivated high titers of bacteria and fungi, some of which are medically relevant strains, within 15 mins and 60 mins of run time, respectively. Unlike the other brands tested, the Instant Pot was capable of inactivating 106 G. stearothermophilus spores, which indicates that it can sterilize items to the level generally deemed acceptable for laboratory autoclaves. These data demonstrate that the pressure cookers tested are a viable alternative for steam sterilizing laboratory items when an autoclave is unavailable.

 

[Arnie]

Just curious. How does this affect the rubber. I got some recently from Heaven's store Aliexpress. The rubber stoppers seemed very difficult to move. It almost takes brute force to get them started. I purchased others from EZPENS that uses steam sterilization and those rubber stoppers move very nicely, very smooth.

I think just applying heat, would dry the rubber out? The steam process wouldn't do that. Rubber is a pesty product when it comes to exposure to heat and UV. Just look at what happens to the rubber parts of your car.

This thread was very useful. My labels were blue initially. I had a prestige pressure cooker with weight and steamed these for half an hour and the labels turned black. A tiny drop of water was inside the pouch after this, but thats ok as the stopper did not pop out. As far as the stopper being stuck is concerned, I guess its some kind of glue or seal and is intended to be there. I tested one of them before steaming and it was still stuck. I think it surves 2 purposes. To prevent the stopper from popping when steamed. To accidently prevent the Stopper popping out when filling medication without using a second needle to let the air out, and its definitely not steam doing it.

Also I dont know what temperature the pressure cooker went as the bosch infrared thermomenter could not read the temp due to reflective surface of stainless steel. Hope this helps.

 

[scarywood75]

We have a testing group where I participated to test a ton of different carts for sterility, some already been sent to Jano