Twelve real-world items, four sterilization methods. Tap an item card, then tap the method it needs: prevacuum steam, gravity steam, low-temperature, or dry heat. Every miss comes with a warm coaching note and a memory anchor.
Dynamic air removal. For lumened, porous, and implantable loads where trapped air is the enemy.
Air drains out the bottom. Only for nonporous, nonlumened items. 250°F for 30 minutes.
EtO or hydrogen peroxide gas plasma. For heat-sensitive items that steam would destroy.
Hot air, no moisture. For oils, powders, petroleum products, and sharp edges steam corrodes.
Pick any item card above to start. The four methods are watching, and they are rooting for you.
Prevacuum (dynamic air removal) cycles. Gravity displacement cannot clear trapped air from lumens, so steam never contacts the inside surfaces. Any instrument with a lumen needs dynamic air removal.
Implants must go through a full dynamic-air-removal cycle with a biological indicator run with every implant load. Immediate-use steam sterilization skips the full cycle and the routine biological monitoring, so it is never acceptable for implants.
Both are low-temperature sterilants for heat-sensitive items. Ethylene oxide is highly toxic and the load needs hours of aeration before it is safe to use. Hydrogen peroxide gas plasma is fast and leaves no toxic residue, but every item must be completely dry, because moisture blocks the process.
When moisture cannot contact the item. Dry heat sterilizes oils, powders, petroleum products, and glass, plus sharp cutting edges that steam would corrode. It runs hotter than steam, around 320 degrees Fahrenheit, because dry heat kills more slowly.