4 4 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 9
F
lexible endoscopes are notoriously difficult to clean,
putting unsuspecting patients at risk of being exposed to
infections by unsuspecting physicians. After a serious
flexible endoscope reprocessing error at Baystate
Medical Center in Springfield, Mass., the facility's staff
knew it had to immediately improve its entire high-level disinfection
(HLD) process. Their efforts earned this year's OR Excellence Award
for Patient Safety.
Diane Betti, RN, MSN, CNOR, CSPDT, ST, and her team took on the
task. They audited the situation and found numerous issues. "We
didn't have consistency in process," says Baystate's director of inpa-
tient surgery, perianesthesia and sterile processing. "There were
TM
Sponsored by
PATIENT SAFETY
Solving Problems That Were Large in Scope
Flexible endoscopes were a potential patient safety issue at Baystate
Medical Center. Now? Not so much. Joe Paone | Senior Associate Editor
• EXPERT CARE In Baystate's renovated scope cleaning room, a specially trained endoscope reprocessing technician gets
another scope ready for reuse.
Kathleen
Roy/Michael
Gudejko,
Baystate
Medical
Center