NSAI to Host Key Plenary Meeting on Sterilization in Health Care
The National Standards Authority of Ireland (NSAI) will host a key plenary meeting next week for the International Organization for Standardization Technical Committee 198 (ISO TC 198). The plenary event will take place from June 24th to June 28th at the Atlantic Technological University (ATU) Galway City Campus.
ISO/TC 198 develops standards for the processes and equipment used in the sterilization of health care products. The standards developed by this ISO Technical Committee are used by manufacturers of medical devices and health care service providers. Ensuring the safety and sterility assurance of products and the equipment used is key to ensuring the safety of patients. This event will gather global experts in the field.
Standards play a key role in the quality assurance and sterility assurance processes in the area of Medical Technology (MedTech). Ireland is home to a wide variety of companies in the area of MedTech, including multinationals and SMEs. Collaboration between industry, research and innovation centres, standards experts and a variety of other stakeholders is as the core of standards development. Processes addressed by ISO/TC 198 comprise those used both in industrial facilities and by health care facilities.
Standardization in these areas achieves two important goals:
- Promoting good cleaning, disinfection and sterilization practices in order to prevent infections and support patient health.
- Providing global standards that can be used by manufacturers and regulatory agencies in order to minimize technical barriers to trade due to differences in regulation of sterile health care products, health care products intended to be reprocessed, associated equipment and ancillary products.
Launch of new MSc in Sterility Assurance
Also planned during the week is the launch of the new Masters of Science in End-to-End sterility Assurance, developed by Irish Medtech Skillnet in conjunction with industry stakeholders, and ATU Galway. This launch provides an opportunity to showcase education developments for professionals interested in developing skills in sterility assurance.
For more information about the new ATU course see link: Master of Science in End-to-End Sterility Assurance | Irish Medtech Skillnet and
Information about the launch including registration is available from the link Masters Launch Event, 25 June 2024 | Irish Medtech Skillnet
