A
series of fatal superbug outbreaks has left the users of
duodenoscopes — the flexible, side-viewing, upper GI
endoscopes implicated in cross-contaminating
patients — at a difficult crossroads. What are your
options when an irreplaceable tool that's seemingly
impossible to fully clean harbors an antibiotic-resistant bacteria?
"We will not tolerate infections transmitted by the devices we use.
Even though the number is low, it is not one we can allow," says
Michael L. Kochman, MD, FACP, the chair of the American
Gastroenterological Association's Center for GI Innovation and
Technology and a professor of medicine at the University of
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O U T P A T 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 | M A R C H 2 0 1 5
Is a long-overlooked cross-contamination risk endangering
your patients? David Bernard | Senior Associate Editor
z BRUSH UP Standard brushes used in scope reprocessing were unable
to scour the microscopic crevices in duodenoscopes' elevator mechanisms.
Deadly Duodenoscopes?
Pamela
Bevelhymer,
RN,
BSN
