ing for your fleet of
scopes is therefore critical
during every step along
the reprocessing pathway,
which begins at the
patient's bedside.
• Pre-cleaning. Point-
of-use cleaning at the bed-
side should begin as soon
as procedures are com-
pleted. It makes the most
sense to have nurses in
the procedure room per-
form the cleaning because
they're already wearing
the necessary personal
protective equipment.
Bedside cleaning should include wiping down the insertion tube with
ready-to-use, pre-saturated detergent wipes, suctioning detergent water
through the scope and flushing the air/water channel with water, then
air. Soak the distal tip in detergent water and flush the air/water chan-
nel with water, then air.
After the bedside cleaning is complete, place the scope in a clean
plastic container for transport to the reprocessing area. We've tried
some new products, such as drawstring sacks, but have opted to use
plastic containers to ensure scopes don't get damaged during transit.
• Dry-leak testing. Our facility just purchased an automated dry
leak tester, which is about 95% effective in detecting tears or punctures
in an endoscope's channel, compared with an approximate 35% detec-
tion rate from a manual wet test. Manually leak testing — which
8 2 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • M A R C H 2 0 2 0
• PRE-CLEAN TEST Dry-air leak testing is more accurate than traditional
wet leak tests to make sure your endoscopes are free of tears or punctures
before they go into the reprocessor.
Gateway
Endoscopy
Center
