Sparco, Inc. derives its name from the
founder and inventor of the Flash-Guard flash sterilization
transport system, Beverly Sparks, MA, BSN, RN. Captain Sparks
served as an Operating Room Director with United States Navy in a
career that spanned over 20 years, completing her tour of service
at the U.S. Naval Hospital in San Diego, California.
During her career, she observed a
major obstacle to patient safety: flash sterilized instruments
were being exposed to airborne contaminants while being
transported from the autoclave/sterilizer to the operating rooms.
Standard procedure was to flash sterilize items in an open,
perforated tray or basket and carry them directly from the
sterilizer to the O.R. room.
Her concerns prompted her to
perform air quality studies, and strikingly, she discovered that
some of the most contaminated air was found in the areas where the
flash sterilizers were located, including "sterile cores,"
"sub-sterile" rooms, and the main passageways outside of the OR
rooms. Transporting instruments without solid protection was found
to be unsafe due to exposure to contamination, thus affecting
patient safety.
Captain Sparks was not afraid to
challenge the status quo to protect patients from possible
infection. In 1984, she designed the Flash-Guard transport system
in response to this flaw in the standard operating procedures.
Flash-Guard receives the flow of
steam entering the sterilizer chamber through a valve at the top
of the autoclave. Steam is exhausted down and out of the exhaust
port located in the front and bottom of the sterilizer.
Flash-Guard's unique patented design works in complete
synchronization with the autoclave/sterilizer and is capable of
flash sterilization at 3 and 10 minute cycles.
Captain Sparks understood the daily
challenges faced by OR nurses, and tailored Flash-Guard to meet
those needs. She knew it had not only to be fail-safe, but simple
to use and cost-effective. For those reasons, Flash-Guard has no
moving parts or filters. In fact, many of the Flash-Guard
containers have been in service for more than 10 years. The
Flash-Guard system is available in five sizes.
For 25 years, Sparco's Flash-Guard
system has been delivering safe, reliable sterilization while
saving valuable time and money. Flash-Guard meets industry
standards for sterilization and transport as recommended by JCAHO,
AORN, and AAMI. |
