How often do you change surgical instrument ID tape?

Answer 1

As long as the health care institution has appropriate decontamination and cleaning practices in place, and the integrity of the tape remains, it generally is not necessary to replace tape on surgical instrumentation. Nevertheless, throughout the working life of the instrument the tape may ware or become discolored from the sterilization process, in which case it would be necessary to replace the tape. Remember that sterility is not infinite, that is, it is based on an acceptable level or meeting certain criteria and adding anything to the sterile environment will affect this level. That said, I have worked at a 20 OR hospital for 8 years with about 1/8 of our instruments taped and it has not been an issue. Hope that helps.Surgical instrument tape should be changed whenever it is chipped, cracked or in danger of coming off the instrument.

The problem with tape is that the sterilizing steam does not penetrate beneath the surface of the tape itself.

So if the tape is chipped or cracked it should be removed and the tape residue removed before it is used again.