Managing Endoscopes

Mayo Clinic Physician Reiterates Need To Focus On Safe Endoscope Reprocessing

August 15, 2019 / Hospital Management, Infection Control, Managing Endoscopes, Patient Safety, Regulatory Compliance /

Hospitals continue to focus on duodenoscopes and their successful reprocessing in order to reduce the incidence of superbug breakouts related to endoscopes. The primary concern that hospitals have to address regarding duodenoscope reprocessing revolves around some of the manual components of disinfecting these devices. Bret T. Petersen, MD of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota […]

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How To Increase Endoscope Reprocessing Protocol Adherence With Technology

August 8, 2019 / Hospital Management, Infection Control, Joint Commission, Managing Endoscopes, Patient Safety, Regulatory Compliance /

Flexible endoscopes have been the source of many superbug breakouts over the past decade. In order to protect your facility from the patient safety and legal nightmares that superbug breakouts lead to, you need to make sure that your staff is following your standard operating procedures for reprocessing endoscopes every single time. Even the best

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Oregon Health & Science University Implements Endoscope Tracking Software As An Investment In Patient Safety

July 18, 2019 / Clinical Documentation, Hospital Management, Infection Control, Joint Commission, Managing Endoscopes, Operational Efficiency, Patient Safety, Regulatory Compliance /

Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) implemented the iRIScope endoscope tracking system from Mobile Aspects to help automate the documentation of reprocessing and storage practices for endoscopes in its new Center for Health & Healing Building 2(CHH2). As the only academic health center in the state, OHSU is where personalized patient care is combined with

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Are Your Endoscopes Being Reprocessed Too Slowly? How to Use Data to Speed Things Up

July 2, 2019 / Cost Reduction, Hospital Finance, Hospital Management, Infection Control, Managing Endoscopes, Operational Efficiency /

With all the protocols that endoscope techs and sterile processing staff must follow to properly high level disinfect every scope, flexible endoscopes can disappear into a black hole when they are needed most – only to pop up again when it is too late. There are several contributors to this inefficiency: long waiting periods in

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The Problem With Broken Endoscopes And How To Avoid Them

October 12, 2021 / Cost Reduction, Hospital Finance, Hospital Management, Infection Control, Managing Endoscopes, Patient Safety /

Flexible endoscopes can cost a hospital a lot of money – and cost patients valuable time – when going through avoidable repairs. Repairing flexible endoscopes often requires expensive maintenance from third-party organizations, delayed or canceled cases due to unusable scopes and procurement of expensive loaner scopes to handle the required workload. Spending time and effort

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How Technology Can Help Your Hospital Reach High Compliance Rates In Endoscope Reprocessing

May 30, 2019 / Hospital Management, Infection Control, Managing Endoscopes, Patient Safety, Regulatory Compliance /

Over the last decade, incidences of outbreaks from infections that can be attributed to poorly disinfected endoscopes have been showing up in the news regularly. So much so that regulatory bodies from the US Congress to the FDA have been increasing their scrutiny of these extremely useful, yet sometimes problematic reusable medical instruments. Many different

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Government Continues Probe Into Manufacturers of Contaminated Duodenoscopes

May 16, 2019 / Hospital Management, Infection Control, Managing Endoscopes, Patient Safety, Regulatory Compliance /

The US Government is continuing its scrutiny of Olympus and the other major endoscope manufacturers following several reports of infections related to duodenoscopes in recent years. The latest chapter includes a letter written by a US Senator asking for additional information regarding duodenoscope investigations. Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) wrote a letter to the three major

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Are You Reprocessing Endoscopes Efficiently?

May 9, 2019 / Cost Reduction, Hospital Management, Infection Control, Managing Endoscopes, Operating Rooms, Operational Efficiency /

In today’s environment, Endoscopy and PeriOperative departments need to be very careful to follow their endoscope reprocessing protocols extremely closely. With all the reports of superbug outbreaks due to the inadequate disinfection of scopes, it is the primary job of sterile processing (or whichever department oversees reprocessing scopes) to provide safe endoscopes to use on

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Nearly Half Million Dollars In Endoscopes Stolen From Pennsylvania Hospital

October 6, 2021 / Hospital Finance, Hospital Management, Managing Endoscopes /

During a recent weekend shift, nearly a half million dollars’ worth of colonoscopes were stolen from a hospital outside of Philadelphia. 3 thieves were suspected of walking out of Lankenau Medical Center with the equipment in broad daylight. This is not the first time this has happened with flexible endoscopes. In 2017, over $1 million

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FDA Releases Update On Contamination Risks Of Duodenoscopes

April 17, 2019 / Hospital Management, Infection Control, Managing Endoscopes, Patient Safety, Regulatory Compliance /

The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has released another update regarding its research into the safety and contamination risks associated with the use of duodenoscopes. After receiving further research results, the FDA is reiterating its previous recommendations regarding the proper handling and reprocessing of duodenoscopes that it released in a Safety Communication in

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