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Background
The Central Sterile Supply Department (CSSD) plays a vital role in hospitals by ensuring that surgical instruments and equipment are properly sterilized before use. Improper sterilization can cause infections, longer hospital stays, increased costs, and even threaten patient safety. Despite this, many hospitals struggle to consistently follow sterilization protocols. The CSSD works closely with the Infection Control Committee to monitor quality using various indicators. Since sterilization is a significant expense, understanding the costs especially those related to re-sterilization can help reduce waste, save money, and improve hospital efficiency. This helps hospital leaders make better decisions to protect patients and optimize resources.
Objective
This study aims to identify the reasons behind re-sterilization of medical items and assess its cost impact at a tertiary care hospital in Sikkim. It focuses on the types of items sterilized, frequency of sterilization and re-sterilization, causes of sterilization failures, and the financial burden of repeated sterilization.
Methods
An observational study was conducted at Central Referral Hospital, Gangtok, over four months, with data collected from March 17 to May 17, 2025. It included all medical and surgical items processed in the CSSD, excluding single-use and damaged instruments. Data collection used a checklist and cost sheet after necessary approvals. Analysis involved organizing data in Excel and using descriptive statistics, mainly mean costs.
Results
Over two months, most re-sterilized items came from Operation Theatres, followed by Emergency, ICU, Labour Rooms, and wards. Specialized departments contributed fewer but specific instruments. Daily re-sterilization averages were highest in mid-March (21 items/day), dropped in April (11/day), and slightly rose in May (12/day), likely due to expired sterility and improved inventory management.The main cause of re-sterilization (98.7%) was items returned after sterility expiry, indicating inventory and scheduling issues. Smaller causes included items opened for academic use (0.1%) and staff verification (1.2%). This shows re-sterilization is mostly due to user practices rather than sterilization process failures, highlighting the need for better coordination and training.The total re-sterilization cost was ₹2,84,344 over two months. Fixed costs (infrastructure and equipment depreciation) accounted for 55.87%, while variable costs (manpower, consumables, utilities) were 44.13%. Equipment depreciation was the largest cost (49.39%), followed by manpower (34.07%). The study stresses the importance of staff training, adherence to protocols, and regular audits to reduce re-sterilization and control costs
Keywords:
Central Sterile Supply Department (CSSD), Sterilization, Re-sterilization, Inventory management, Sterility expiry, Cost analysis, Equipment depreciation, Manpower cost
Cite Article:
"A STUDY ON FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO RESTERILIZATION AND ITS COST ANALYSIS IN A TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL IN GANGTOK", International Journal for Research Trends and Innovation (www.ijrti.org), ISSN:2455-2631, Vol.11, Issue 1, page no.a204-a212, January-2026, Available :http://www.ijrti.org/papers/IJRTI2601028.pdf
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ISSN:
2456-3315 | IMPACT FACTOR: 8.14 Calculated By Google Scholar| ESTD YEAR: 2016
An International Scholarly Open Access Journal, Peer-Reviewed, Refereed Journal Impact Factor 8.14 Calculate by Google Scholar and Semantic Scholar | AI-Powered Research Tool, Multidisciplinary, Monthly, Multilanguage Journal Indexing in All Major Database & Metadata, Citation Generator