reminder of how often they need to be used to reduce contamina-
tion while meeting your facility's needs. Once a scope has been used
in a procedure, it needs to be wiped down and pre-cleaned within
half an hour. Scope channels can get caked in dry bioburden, other-
wise, and they become much more complicated to clear and disin-
fect. And once a scope has been stored in the ventilated cabinet, it
needs to be reused within at least 5 days. Despite daily cabinet
cleaning and despite the ventilation, scopes can still pick up air-
borne microbes, especially if they're not used consistently. In short,
don't let the scopes go stagnant. We have 19 scopes in our inventory,
and they are all used about 3 or 4 times a day. The volume of our
endoscope inventory works on 2 ends. On one hand, it keeps up
with our demands, and on the other, it doesn't let scopes become
contaminated again by hanging in a cabinet for extended periods of
time. You need a double-edged strategy here.
Know your techs
While my title says clinical administrator, I still go to our scope
room several times a week to help reprocess scopes and to check in
on the process. I'm also reminding the SPD staff how important their
role is. I ask them to verbally walk me through each of their steps. By
talking through their process out loud, they stay acutely aware of the
importance of each step, and they quickly pick up on any that they
might be missing.
OSM
6 8 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • O C T O B E R 2 0 1 7
Mr. Lacava (robertlacava@advancedsurgery-center.com) is the clinical
administrator of the Advanced Surgery Center in Rockville, Md.
