(Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands – Thursday 25th October, 2018): Students from the Clement Howell High School were granted behind-the-scenes access to the Medical Device Reprocessing Department at the Turks and Caicos Islands Hospital to raise awareness of careers within the field.

The special tour was held in observance of International Medical Device Reprocessing Week celebrated on October 14th – 20th, 2018. Other initiatives held during the week included an information booth display and a special continuing medical education (CME) session for health care providers. This year’s theme is “Instrumental to health care, Instrumental to you.”

Medical Device Reprocessing is critical to the delivery of health care as surgeries and other medical procedures cannot be performed without safe and sterile medical instruments. A team of specialist technicians at TCI Hospital are responsible for the decontamination, packaging and sterilization of thousands of reusable instrument sets every month.

These processes are conducted in an isolated area with high-powered special equipment and stringent infection prevention and safety protocols. Students were required to wear personal protective equipment during the tour. The safety gear is mandatory for all employees operating in the decontamination section of the department.