Pre-cleaning
Pre-cleaning scopes at
the patient's bedside, fol-
lowing the instructions for
use (IFU) will help to
remove bioburden and pre-
vent the buildup of biofilm.
This will not only decrease
reprocessing time, but will
also increase the lifespan of
the delicate flexible endo-
scopes. The challenge in
some facilities is to make
sure pre-cleaning is per-
formed at all. As an ever-
present reminder, hang a
laminated sheet on each
tower in procedure rooms
that reminds staff members
to follow exact instructions
on how to prepare the
scope before it's put into
the transport container.
After a scope is used and pre-cleaned at the bedside, a staff member
should place it back in the same validated transport container, secure
it with red "Dirty" locks, and make sure the red biohazard label on top
is visible.
Wait times
The general rule is that if instruments or devices covered with
4
3
Infection Prevention
IP
2 8 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • O C T O B E R 2 0 1 9
• CLIP AND STICK Baystate Medical Center SPD coordinator Kozar
Thomas preps transport containers with green clips and a green ready
sticker that indicate the scopes inside are clean.
