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sheathed gastroscope is safe and effective in clinical practice, according to a report published in the Journal of Gastroenterology and
Hepatology last month. After a head-to-head comparison of the singleuse device against a conventional endoscope among more than 1,000
patients, they found the new device effective in preventing cross-contamination and reducing reprocessing time, and noted no significant differences in patient discomfort, optical clarity or pathology detection
rate.
— Compiled by David Bernard
provide similar results when dipped into water that's been poured
sterile through the channel and collected in a sterile basin.
Listen up
Don't take your sterile processing department for granted. Listen to what
your employees there have to say. Their complaints may provide solutions. If, for example, your scope reprocessing techs have mentioned
more than once that they feel rushed by the schedule's turnaround
demands and often don't have time to complete their tasks properly, take
the time to observe them at work. If their complaints are justified, consider hiring more employees, cross-training other employees to lend a hand
when time and staffing are tight, or rethinking the schedule. OSM
Ms. Swanson (kswanso@connecticutchildrens.org) chairs the board of directors of the Certification Board for Sterile Processing and Distribution (CBSPD)
and is the sterile processing team leader at Connecticut Children's Medical
Center in Hartford.