Central Sterilization Upgrades

The College Upgrades Central Sterilization

The OU College of Dentistry is very proud to announce the latest school improvement project, the relocation and renovation of the central sterilization area. Central sterilization was formerly located on the second floor of the dental school, where it had been since the opening of the school in 1976. There had been upgrades to equipment over the years but the overall workflow had not changed and had become obsolete for today’s standards of infection control.

The new CS area is equipped with state-of-the-art ergonomic workstations, a new hospital-size sterilizer, an automated storage carousel for all of the students’ equipment, and pass-through windows to maintain separation between contaminated equipment and sterilized equipment. All of the upgrades will take the College of Dentistry well into the future. Most importantly, the new area meets or exceeds infection control standards for disinfection and sterilization, providing excellent patient care.

Before the renovations, students had cubbies in which to place their instruments, which made it difficult for staff to find and track the equipment. The new Hanel Rotomat storage carousel now makes it more efficient to provide students with their materials. It’s as easy as entering a student’s ID and the carousel brings the required parts to the retrieval area in just a few seconds. It also takes up 60% less space than the previous system.