Reference

Name

Report of a detailed survey of current practice in decontamination of (primarily) flexible endoscopes within NHSScotland and independent hospitals

Categories

Scottish Government

Organization

Scottish Executive

Keywords

NHS SCOTLAND MEDICAL EQUIPMENT HYGINE COMMUNICABLE DISEASE;

Description

Endoscopes are instruments used to obtain a view of the interior of the body. Their diagnostic and therapeutic benefits are well recognised and their increasing use is testament to this. Nevertheless, endoscopes and in particular flexible endoscopes are delicate but complex medical devices with very particular requirements for decontamination between uses. They often have multiple channels of very small internal diameter making cleaning difficult. Decontaminating them involves pre-cleaning, leak testing, cleaning, disinfection, rinsing, inspection, transport and storage. For these to be effective, all the process stages need to be conducted correctly, with controls and monitoring in place. Endoscope washer disinfectors ( EWD) can control many of the stages automatically. However they must be fit for the purpose of decontaminating specific endoscopes. This requires that each EWD is subjected to validation and periodic testing and planned preventive maintenance.

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Created

2006-03-06 00:00:00

Download URL

External Link: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2006/03/03155226/0