SMS Test Envelopes Video Transcript

The SMS test envelope is a massive part of both your compliance and of our day-to-day operation.

We will cover the parts of the test envelope, why they are important, and how to fill out the envelope for efficient processing.

Your test envelope is a red or gray self-sealing envelope. It is divided into two sides, one for the test strip, and one for the control strip. The control strip is sealed before it arrives at your office and should remain sealed. The test strip is what is ran through your sterilizer to test its efficacy.

The test strip is returned to the test side and sealed before being mailed.

Before you begin testing, be sure to check the spore test’s expiration date.

Expired spores cannot be processed by the SMS lab, so contact the office or reorder online.

The first field to fill out will be the Operator Name box. Print the name of whoever processed the test. We ask for the operator’s name to be clearly printed, so that in the event of a test failing, we can provide the name of who ran the test. In the past, this has allowed offices to notice errors by newer staff members or focus staff retraining where necessary.

Next, is the test date boxes. You should clearly print the month and day that the test was ran. This allows us to clearly identify when the test was run, as delays in postal delivery are not uncommon, and the most recent test we receive may not be the most recent test that was mailed from your office.

Next, is the Equipment ID field. You should circle the equipment ID that corresponds to the equipment the test was ran in. This is an example of an Equipment ID. It consists of a letter and a number.

‘A’ for autoclave, ‘C’ for Chemiclave, and ‘D’ for Dry Heat Oven (Note: Autoclave is the catch-all term we use for all steam-based sterilizers). The following number then corresponds to how many pieces of that equipment type your office has.

If your office has 2 steam sterilizers and one dry heat oven, they would be labeled as A1, A2, and D1 respectively. Even if your office only has one sterilizer, it is important for the SMS lab to have the Equipment ID circled.

We receive hundreds of SMS envelopes a day, and missing equipment IDs slow down the process of getting test entered and put into the database. To correctly identify your equipment, go to the row with the letter that matches your equipment, and circle the number from the ID. If this test was for A2, for example, you would go to the A row and only circle the number 2.

The next crucial step is to apply your SMS Account Information Label. Included with your order, in the nine by twelve envelope, is a sheet of labels with your office name, and your SMS number.

Simply peel the first label off and apply it to the box at the top of the envelope that says, “SMS label, place here”. If your envelope does not have this box, simply place it in this area of the envelope. This label is critical to us identifying your test, as without it, all we have is a test date and an operator name, neither of which are helpful in matching the test with the account. The label sheets are designed to correspond to a single sterilizer for 52 tests. Built into the structure of the label sheet is a reorder reminder when you get to 8 tests remaining. If you cannot locate your sheet, or yours was damaged in some way, write your SMS number on the envelope, and contact our office for a replacement.

Pictured here is the test entry screen that the SMS lab uses each day to input your tests into our database. The Client ID, the test date, and equipment are pulled directly from your envelope. The rack is the internal identifier for which test tube rack your test is in, the “hint” box is a way for the lab to flag common errors, and the comments box is for adding comments to the test to show up on your report. You can see how important your completion of the test envelope is to the work of our student laboratory staff, as this is done for each one of the hundreds of tests that SMS receives on a daily basis.

Finally, before you are finished, be sure to adhere postage, write a return address, and double check to see that an SMS Account information label was applied to the test envelope in the designated spot before you turn the envelope over to your postal carrier.