A generic simulation model to assess the performance of sterilization services in health establishments.

The work presented here is with a view to improving performance of sterilization services in hospitals. We carried out a survey in a large number of health establishments in the Rhône-Alpes region in France. Based on the results of this survey and a detailed study of a specific service, we have built a generic model. The generic nature of the model relies on a common structure with a high level of detail. This model can be used to improve the performance of a specific sterilization service and/or to dimension its resources. It can also serve for quantitative comparison of performance indicators of various sterilization services.