RE:ECRI: Scope Contamination Major Factor in #2 Hazard for 2017Infection Control Today publishes a lot of stuff either producedd by the in-house staff or picked on the wires. It is thus that it has reproduced the latest press release by Tso3.
At year end it has produced a compilation of what it considers the most significant papers of the year. One was written in-house in May and it delt with the difficulties of handling the duodenoscopes.
https://www.infectioncontroltoday.com/articles/2016/05/hospitals-industry-and-government-wrestle-with-approaches-to-address-scoperelated-outbreaks.aspx
As it is a rather lengthy piece, some may be satisfied with the last paragraph. It says just about everything
Rutala indicated that outbreaks continue due to a lack of a margin of safety associated with reprocessing endoscopes, for two reasons: "These instruments are more microbially contaminated than any other instrument in healthcare. And the instruments are complex. We know from many studies that the contamination on these instruments varies from roughly 10 million to 10 billion microorganisms. Now, all 10 billion microorganisms have to be removed before the next patient uses that same instrument. We also know from studies that cleaning reduces essentially 2 to 6 logs, and high-level disinfection reduces 4 to 6 logs. So, essentially, you have a situation where you're going to eliminate some-where between 6 and 12 logs of microorganisms by using high-level disinfection. If you only have minimal cleaning and minimal high-level disinfection, you're going to have 4 logs left on this instrument, so as many as 10,000 organisms left before essentially next patient use."
More recently, it has picked a paper by a researcher where there are some interresting paragraphs that should be picked by Tso3 and Getinge. The link is
https://www.infectioncontroltoday.com/articles/2016/10/implementing-a-comprehensive-endoscope-reprocessing-program.aspx
and the most important paragraphs are
This finding demonstrates a need for more effective methods of cleaning and disinfection and consideration to move to sterilization whenever possible. Additionally, more research is needed regarding improving scope design that allows for better disinfection or sterilization and even moving toward single-use devices.
Until better technology or more sophisticated medical devices are developed, healthcare organizations must begin to critically examine all aspects of their endoscope reprocessing programs. Ensuring that staff are meticulously adhering to the cleaning and reprocess instructions is only one part of this. (My bold)