Based on evolving guidance around the reprocessing and disinfection of flexible endoscopes, many hospitals are updating their procedures to include the drying of endoscope channels. This is due to the increasing evidence that simply hanging scopes vertically or flushing channels with alcohol after disinfection still leaves moisture within channels. The Society of Gastroenterology Nurses & Associates (SGNA) guidelines advise that “drying the endoscope after every reprocessing cycle, both between patient procedures and before storage is a requisite practice crucial to the prevention of bacterial transmission and noscomial infection. Drying is as important to the prevention of disease transmission and noscomial infection as cleaning and high level disinfection.”
In order to effectively dry endoscope channels, many hospitals are investing in specialized cabinets that blow filtered air through the endoscope’s channels while being vertically hung. This additional measure helps to flush out any moisture that may have remained after scopes are run through automated endoscope reprocessors (AERs), reducing the possibility of bacterial growth. Many of the endoscope channel drying cabinets on the market pull air from the hospital’s central air supply system in order to generate the air that is then blown through the channels of the endoscope. The additional construction required to pull central air supply to the endoscope drying cabinets can cost hospitals over $100,000, often many times the expense of the drying cabinets alone.
With Mobile Aspects’ new endoscope channel drying cabinets, there is now no need to tap into the hospital’s central air supply system. Mobile Aspects’ iRIScope cabinets have their own air filtering system built in, saving hospitals a lot of money during installation. They also meet all the endoscope storage guidelines from The Joint Commission, SGNA and many others. Due to the built-in air filters, it only takes 10 minutes to dry the endoscope channels compared to many other cabinets that take 45 minutes or more to accomplish the same task. Check out our earlier article where we discussed How a New Method Is Reducing Endoscope Channel Drying Times Down to Only 10 Minutes.
In addition to drying endoscope channels, Mobile Aspects’ iRIScope system is also a flexible endoscope tracking system that uses barcode and Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) to track the entire lifecycle of your endoscopes. The iRIScope system provides the benefits of electronic documentation, decreased risk of cross-contamination, and increased efficiency by tracking endoscope usage automatically and with high reliability. Additionally, Mobile Aspects iRIScope locking cabinets meet endoscope storage guidelines via the use of HEPA filters, as well as positive pressure and optional channel drying. Built in alerts and artificial intelligence will let your staff know when endoscopes have reached their shelf life limit, when they have gone missing for a set time period, and can even predict when a dirty scope has been entered into a clean storage cabinet.
Book a demo of iRIScope’s channel drying cabinets today.