1 0 6
O U T P A T 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 | N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 5
Your scope inventory must be big enough to handle your facility's demands, says Erica
Natal, BSN, MHA, MBA, director of clinical services at Rockford (Ill.) Gastroenterology
Associates. "You cannot rush the [decontamination] process," she says. A sign you don't
have enough scopes: Your endoscopists pressure your scope techs to get scopes back in
the rotation before they've had enough time to dry.
Here's a simple formula (courtesy of Rockford's scope repair company) to deter-
mine your appropriate scope inventory that takes into account scope wear and tear
plus turnover time. For each procedure (colon/EGD), divide the number of cases you
host by the number of that type of scope you have in inventory. For example, divide
the number of colonoscopies by the number of colonoscopes. As a benchmark, the
goal is not to use a scope more than 300 times per year. To get an accurate usage
number, don't count scopes that aren't used or are rarely used, says Ms. Natal.
Remind physicians that don't know how long it takes to reprocess a scope that any
shortcuts taken from the prescribed process to meet a demand put patient safety at risk.
"How long does it take to really do it correctly — 12 minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes?"
asks Donna Nucci, RN, BSN, CIC, an infection preventionist at Yale New Haven (Conn.)
Hospital. "One person can only do so much. And is that person competent?"
— Dan O'Connor
ENDOSCOPE INVENTORY FORMULA
Don't Use Scopes More Than 300 Times Per Year
z FULL SERVICE Automated endoscope reprocessors give a thorough
channel flushing, continuous leak testing and sometimes more.
Pamela
Bevelhymer,
RN,
BSN
