Sort each instrument into its Spaulding class: Critical, Semicritical, or Noncritical. Tap an item card, then tap the bin it belongs in. Every miss comes with a warm coaching note and a memory anchor.
Enters sterile tissue or the vascular system. Must be sterile.
Touches mucous membranes or non-intact skin. Needs high-level disinfection at minimum.
Touches intact skin only. Low or intermediate level disinfection.
Pick any instrument card above to start sorting. The bins are watching, and they are rooting for you.
The Spaulding classification sorts medical devices into three classes based on the infection risk of the tissue they contact. Critical items enter sterile tissue or the vascular system and must be sterile. Semicritical items contact mucous membranes or non-intact skin and need at least high-level disinfection. Noncritical items contact only intact skin and need low or intermediate level disinfection.
GI endoscopes and bronchoscopes are semicritical because they contact mucous membranes, not sterile tissue. They require high-level disinfection at a minimum. This is a favorite CRCST exam trap, because many students assume anything that goes inside the body must be critical.
Noncritical items touch only intact skin, so low or intermediate level disinfection is enough. Examples include blood pressure cuffs, stethoscopes, bedpans, and crutches. They do not need to be sterile.
Think in threes: Critical enters the body (sterile tissue or blood), Semicritical touches the wet parts (mucous membranes), Noncritical touches dry skin only. Sterility required goes down with risk: sterile, then high-level disinfection, then low or intermediate level disinfection.