Instructions for Metricide Test Strips

Metricide test strips are used to determine the level of the disinfectant, ortho-phthalaldehyde, or OPA. This disinfectant is used to clean medical instruments that have come in contact with patients' mucus membranes or broken skin, in order to not pass bacterial and diseases from one person to the next. The same OPA can be used more than once to disinfect instruments: However, before each use the concentration levels should be tested, to ensure that there are adequate levels of OPA in the solution.

Things You'll Need

• Container
• Watch

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Instructions

• 1

  Take one test strip out of the bottle and quickly close the bottle, so as not to contaminate the remaining strips.

• 2

  Submerge the indicating pad of the test strip into the OPA solution.

• 3

  Keep the pad immersed in the solution for two full seconds; Then carefully remove it, making sure not to drop the strip, or let it come into contact with anything else in the room.

• 4

  Hold the strip in a horizontal position and wait a full 60 seconds, before reading the results. Read the results immediately at 60 seconds, because the pad will gradually change to a color indicating failure.

• 5

  Compare the color of the test strip pad to the color chart; the pad should have either a yellow or magenta tone to it. If the pad is yellow then the disinfectant is no longer effective and should be discarded. If the pad is magenta then the OPA solution is acceptable.