In every Central Sterile Services Department (CSSD), cleaning is always the most critical step. If cleaning fails, all subsequent disinfection or sterilization steps lose their value. So, what truly differentiates manual cleaning from automated washer–disinfector processing?
1️⃣ Manual Cleaning by Hand
❗ Highly dependent on each staff member’s skill, attention, and available time.
❗ High risk of leaving behind blood, proteins, or organic residues on complex instruments (endoscopes, multi-joint surgical forceps).
❗ Requires multiple types of specialized brushes for different instrument structures: surface brushes, lumen brushes, channel brushes, etc.
❗ Difficult to ensure consistent cleaning quality among different staff and across different shifts.
❗ Increased exposure risk for staff: direct contact with blood, body fluids, cleaning chemicals, and chemical odors from detergents or disinfectants.
❗ Difficult to measure or prove that the cleaning level meets required standards.
👉 Manual cleaning relies heavily on human factors — prone to errors and difficult to validate.
2️⃣ Automated Washer–Disinfector Cleaning
✔ Pre-programmed cycles ensure repeatability and compliance with infection control guidelines and international standards such as ISO 15883 for washer–disinfectors.
✔ Precisely controls temperature, time, water pressure, detergents, and standardized cleaning phases to remove soil effectively.
✔ Uses hot water at 70–93°C to achieve thermal disinfection based on A0 values — without requiring chemical disinfectants.
✔ Instruments are processed inside a closed chamber, minimizing environmental contamination.
✔ Protects staff: no direct contact with contaminated instruments or harsh chemicals; eliminates exposure to unpleasant chemical odors.
✔ Cleaning performance can be easily validated using protein tests, hemoglobin tests, and other cleaning indicators designed for washer–disinfectors.
👉 Washer–disinfectors help CSSD achieve standardization, validation, and staff protection — a comprehensive upgrade in reprocessing quality.
In a modern CSSD, automated washer–disinfectors are considered the gold standard for cleaning effectiveness, staff safety, and sterilization quality. Manual cleaning should be reserved only for emergencies or facilities that have not yet been equipped with washer–disinfector systems.
✨ If you are interested in discussing how to select the most suitable washer–disinfector for your department’s workflow, feel free to contact Dương Gia at 093 955 6666 for expert consultation.