urgent threat by the CDC in 2013,
carbapenem-resistant
Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) is one
such Gram-negative bacteria that
enzyme-specific detection could
identify. Similar to hemoglobin
testing, you flush a scope chan-
nel with sterile water, recover the
water and then incubate it for
around 12 hours before reading
the results. You can test devices
at the end of a shift and have
actionable results before the first
patient the following day.
Cleaning failures
View cleaning verification fail-
ures as a "good catches" by the
reprocessing team that provides you with invaluable feedback into
what's working and what's not working. Be sure to specify the
process in which you'll document cleaning failures and route them in
your facility.
Document each time a scope fails to meet the cleaning benchmark so
that you have adequate data sets to review in cases of internal audits or
potential infectious outbreaks. The technician's goal should not be to
only document scopes that "pass" — this can cause real process issues
to become invisible in terms of your quality data. Set a limit on how
many times a scope can fail in a day before you tag out the device for
other corrective actions.
4 8 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • A U G U S T 2 0 1 8
• VISUAL INSPECTION Desktop USB microscopes can provide up to
270x magnification so you can visualize even the smallest areas of
concern on a scalpel or a flexible scope.
