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How Safe Are Your Patients? - June 2016 - Subscribe to Outpatient Surgery Magazine

Outpatient Surgery Magazine, providing current information on Surgical Services, Surgical Facility Administration, Outpatient Surgery News and Trends, OR Excellence and more.

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1 0 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 • J U N E 2 0 1 6 A re your flexible endo- scopes truly clean? It's a question many facility leaders have asked since the deadly "superbug" out- breaks were linked to dirty duodenoscopes. Here are tips gleaned from new AORN rec- ommendations to help ensure your scopes are in tip-top shape for patient use. 1 Record when cleaning begins Biofilm can start to form in the lumens of endoscopes just a few minutes after use, so it makes sense to record the times the endoscopy ends and cleaning in sterile processing begins. This doesn't need to be a complicated process — it can be as simple as writing the time the endoscopy was completed on a whiteboard in the processing Are Your Flexible Endoscopes Really Clean? 5 reprocessing recommendations. Sharon A. Van Wicklin, MSN, RN, CNOR, CRNFA Denver, Colo. • CLOSE INSPECTION Visual inspection alone — even with magnification — is not sufficient to determine the cleanliness of flexible endoscopes. Pamela Bevelhymer, RN, BSN

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