What method is commonly used to ensure the effectiveness of a sterilizer?

The selection of biological indicators as a method to ensure the effectiveness of a sterilizer is based on their ability to assess whether the sterilization process has effectively killed all viable microorganisms. Biological indicators typically consist of highly resistant bacterial spores that are placed in the sterilization load. After the cycle is completed, these indicators are incubated under controlled conditions to determine if any spores survived. The growth or lack of growth of these spores directly indicates whether the sterilization parameters (such as time, temperature, and humidity) were sufficient to achieve sterilization.

While chemical indicators are useful for verifying that certain conditions (like temperature and steam presence) were met, they do not provide evidence of microbial lethality. Time monitoring and temperature checks are important for ensuring that the sterilizer operates within the specified parameters but do not confirm whether these parameters were effective in destroying all microorganisms present. Therefore, biological indicators stand out as the most reliable method for validating the overall efficacy of the sterilization process, making them the best choice in this context.