Under the accepted classification of patient-care items, a surgical scalpel and a bone chisel are considered:

Giải thích

Critical items penetrate soft tissue or bone and must be heat sterilized after every use because any contamination poses a high risk of infection. Semicritical items such as mirrors contact mucous membranes but do not penetrate tissue, and noncritical items such as a blood pressure cuff touch only intact skin. Instruments are patient-care items, not environmental surfaces.