by whom, to retrieve or
place items?
• Are personnel who
handle endoscopes
performing hand
hygiene correctly
every time?
Address every loose
end, suspicion and
problem, create a poli-
cy, make sure every-
one involved can actu-
ally perform their assignments given all their other tasks, and tie it
into your overall infection control protocol.
Stick to the guidelines
Regardless of what scope handling and transport practices your facility
currently employs, it's a good idea to either perform a comprehensive
end-to-end self-audit, or bring in a third-party consultant, to expose any
procedural problems that go against current guidelines. These cracks in
your foundation may have always been there, or they might have
seeped into your process over months or years. Take this opportunity
to nip them in the bud and reset. It will save you a lot of potential trou-
ble, as well as better protect your patients and staff.
We still don't know all there is to know about how to best handle
both dirty and clean endoscopes, but we know more today than we
have in recent years. The best course of action, as always, is to imple-
ment and stick to the most updated guidelines.
OSM
A P R I L 2 0 1 9 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y. N E T • 1 1 3
• CLEAN OR DIRTY? Use separate carts and containers for dirty scopes and clean
scopes, each of which should be easily distinguishable from the other using clearly
marked visual cues.
Pamela
Bevelhymer,
RN,
BSN,
CNOR
