Those are the loose recommendations. So what do you do as a man-
ager? The evidence may eventually show that it's not necessary to
determine a specific hang life, but because societal guidelines do touch
on the topic, it makes sense to develop a policy. Work with your infec-
tion control team and medical staff to determine what, if any, hang life
you will use, and be sure it's realistic and sustainable for your unit's
operations. To help your staff track the days between decontamination
and reuse, note the expiration date on each scope (tinyurl.com/lfmsz2s)
so members of your reprocessing team don't have to count forward
when reading a tagged scope in storage.
5. audit and teach. Partner with your infection preventionist
to keep close tabs on the work being done in the reprocessing room.
Put her in charge of auditing the process. She'll likely catch the little
errors that could amount to major issues. Initially, have her conduct
