From the March 2014 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine
Contamination is a major concern in the endoscopy field. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that the majority of health care-related outbreaks have been caused by contaminated medical devices, including endoscopes.
Furthermore, every year about 20 million endoscopy procedures are done with reusable endoscopes to examine a patient’s GI tract. Several experts spoke with DOTmed HealthCare Business News about the need to properly handle and sterilize your endoscopes.
Sterilization is key
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“Train the staff regarding proper handling and sterilizing and make sure the equipment is stored properly. Have a certified biomed check every endoscope immediately after sterilizing,” says Mike Rizzi of IEC-Innovative Endoscopy Components, LLC.
“Understand the infection control risks that may be present, you need to think through from start to finish,” says Thomas Szymczak of Vortek Surgical. “When performing product or value analysis, factor in efficiency, safety, and the decrease in infection/ HAI costs that can be incurred facility-wide from inadequate or incomplete processes. Use common sense.”
Understand proper reprocessing
“Hire dedicated staff members that are specifically trained and focused on reprocessing endoscopes,” says Hagan Jordan of Endo- Choice, Inc. “Schedule quarterly in-service with your endoscope manufacturer rep to ensure that staff members are constantly updated and trained.”
Stay on top of inspections and repairs
“Understand the number of uses per day today and estimated for the end of the ownership period so that you can purchase enough equipment to properly run your center on a busy day and to be self-reliant when an instrument goes down so you don’t need a loaner just to keep your center up and running,” says Charles Neff of MedServ International. “Schedule quarterly or semi-annual PM inspections for your equipment to minimize ‘overhaul’ repairs, more frequent lower cost minor repairs can lengthen MTTF between more costly repairs.”
