them," says Mr. Tavera. His facility's scopes are hung in a designat-
ed cabinet with a built-in fan and HEPA filters that keep them dry
and clean.
Be sure to hang your scopes straight up and down, which pro-
motes drying and prevents recontamination. Maintaining documenta-
tion throughout the entire process is critical, especially if an infec-
tion occurs that requires you to trace back to which cases in which
scopes were used. "Tag each scope with the month and day that the
scope was last used and cleaned," says Mr. Tavera.
He says his facility's scopes are cleaned every seven days "regard-
less if the scope was used or not," says Mr. Tavera. All scopes get
cleaned at PIH Health on Tuesdays, since holidays typically either fall
on a Monday or a Friday. "We also culture our scopes every three
months as minimally recommended by the FDA," he says.
High stakes
One reason why Mr. Tavera takes his job so seriously is because he
knows if he doesn't follow the necessary cleaning steps that the out-
come could be detrimental. "Our reprocessing process is an evidence-
based practice. If you work in any other setting, you might have the
luxury to fix your mistakes. In our setting, we can't afford to make
mistakes. Mistakes can cost a patient their life.
"We treat all of our patients as if we were treating our friends and
loved ones," he says. "We wouldn't put them at risk, so why would we
put any patient in harm's way?"
OSM
S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 0
• O U T P A T I E N T S U R G E R Y . N E T • 5 3
ATTENTION TO DETAIL Oversimplifying the cleaning process is one of the biggest mistakes a reprocessing technician
can make.
Dartmouth–Hitchcock
Medical
Center