1. Certify and educate. The Certification Board for Sterile
Processing and Distribution (sterileprocessing.org) offers GI scope cer-
tification for qualified members of your staff who are responsible for
cleaning and disinfecting flexible endoscopes. Support anyone who
expresses interest in the certification exam and do your best to fund
their efforts. It makes sense to have at least 1 staff member in your
reprocessing room gain certification, but I suggest you have a nurse
and tech seek certification. The certified team, with your oversight,
would be responsible for owning the reprocessing process. They'd
champion the cause, declare reprocessing staff members competent
to do their jobs, facilitate product demonstrations when you add new
scopes, and help review and update policies and protocols.
2. Handle and clean properly. Initial bedside cleaning
ensures scopes are flushed with enzymatic cleaner as close to the
time of use as possible. Contain scopes in a closed system during
transport to the decontamination room to avoid transmission risk to
staff and patients, and to protect the delicate scopes.
Perform leak testing, an important step of scope reprocessing, to
check for small holes or issues that jeopardize scope integrity. Next,
meticulously clean the working channel, the insertion tube and the
umbilical section that attaches to the image processor with a brush
that's the correct size and length, according to the scope manufactur-
er's directions for use. Flush the scope and channels with enzymatic
solution and water, and empty the scope of excess water before plac-
ing it in the automatic endoscope reprocessor (AER). Some AERs are
FDA-approved to perform an automatic cleaning cycle that's said to
eliminate the need for manual cleaning, but guidelines issued by the
Society of Gastroenterology Nurses and Associates state that we
should still perform manual cleaning.
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O U T PAT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E | February 2015
