How long can activated chlorine-containing medical disinfectants be stored after opening?
Regarding frequently asked questions from practitioners: After activating chlorine-containing medical disinfectants, do you need to indicate the opening date? How long is the validity period after opening? Most chlorine-containing medical disinfectants used in clinical settings are required by national regulations to be used within the validity period after opening. In daily use, after opening the package, the opening date and validity period must be marked. However, certain disinfectants (such as chlorine-containing medical disinfectants) do not have relevant regulations regarding the validity period after unsealing. This causes confusion for practitioners: Do you want to mark the opening date? How long is the validity period?
Iodine, alcohol, and quick-drying hand sanitizers are used for disinfection. Once the concentration decreases, it will directly affect the disinfection effect. Therefore, it is very necessary to specify the standard start date and end date.
Chlorine-containing medical disinfectants are different. Chlorine disinfectants must be diluted before being used for environmental disinfection. Therefore, the validity period of the original solution of chlorine-containing medical disinfectants is one year. After opening and using, the concentration will decrease due to various factors. However, since the reserve solution is not directly used for disinfection, it is unreasonable to use the same method of marking the opening date and validity period as with other disinfectants.
After the concentration of the original solution decreases, more original solution can still be added to achieve the corresponding disinfectant concentration, and there is no difference in effectiveness during use. In short: the concentration of the original solution is low, so more original solution is added when preparing the disinfectant. The disinfection effect of chlorine disinfectants ultimately depends on the effective concentration after preparation. Therefore, this specification does not stipulate the validity period of chlorine-containing medical disinfectants after opening, but it is not difficult to understand that it only requires monitoring its concentration after preparation. Please refer to the mixing method of chlorine disinfectants.
For the use of chlorine-containing medical disinfectants, it is best not to get entangled in the validity period after opening, but to focus on the concentration after preparation! Monitor the concentration before use after preparation!
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