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O C T O B E R 2 0 1 4 | O U T P AT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E
B
y their very design, flexible endoscopes are difficult to
clean. Long lumens that you can't visualize. Narrow diam-
eters that can trap the biological material they encounter
when they access highly contaminated areas of the body.
Studies have shown that up to 30% of flexible endoscopes remain
contaminated after manual cleaning. If we don't promptly flush scopes
after a procedure, debris can dry inside the lumens and become
extremely difficult to remove. So the first step in cleaning is to flush
all the channels immediately after the end of the procedure, to
E N D O S C O P Y
The case for standardizing the process.
Marcia Patrick, RN, MSN, CIC | Tacoma, Wash.
TOUGH TASK It's a big challenge to consistently reprocess GI scopes.
Pamela
Bevelhymer,
RN,
BSN