Visual inspection of surgical instruments and medical devices for bioburden or damage is a critical safety practice that both central sterile/sterile processing department (CS/SPD) professionals and end users of the equipment (e.g. OR, GI Lab, etc.) can perform when an item is in their hands. But the moment an item is cleaned and ready for subsequent processing steps (e.g. sterilization, HLD), is when the CS/SPD has a specific opportunity – and responsibility – to use visual inspection to verify the cleaning process, as indicated in ANSI/AAMI ST79.