Table 4. Recommendations from Professional Organizations for Flexible Endoscope Storage Time Professional organization
Storage time
American College of Chest Physicians27 American Associates for Bronchology
American Urological Association83 Society of Urologic Nurses and Associates
American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy44 Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation12 Association for Professionals in Infection Control1 Association of periOperative Registered Nurses British Society of Gastroenterology20 British Thoracic Society18 Department of Health: United Kingdom51
Dutch Nurses Association: Division Gastroenterology and Hepatology21
Sterilization Association of the Netherlands Dutch Society of Experts on Sterile Medical Devices Dutch Society for Infection Prevention and Control in the Health Care Setting
European Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy22 European Society of Gastroenterology and Endoscopy Nurses and Associates
Up to 1 month in a drying or dust-free storage cabinet No recommendation 7 to 10 days 10 to 14 days Based on risk assessment No recommendation Based on risk assessment Up to 1 month per cabinet manufacturer Per manufacturer
3 hours unless stored in a way validated to extend usable storage life or in a sterile package
Based on risk assessment
Gastroenterological Society of Australia15 Gastroenterological Nurses College of Australia
Health Service Executive United Kingdom13 Society of Gastroenterology Nurses and Associates16
World Gastroenterology Organisation19 World Endoscopy Organization
endoscope was sampled five times after 24 hours of storage and five times after 168 hours of storage. The results showed no growth at 24 hours. At 168 hours, there was no bacterial growth on four of five occasions (80%) and sparse growth (< 5 CFU/mL) of two non-test organisms (ie, coagulase-negative Staphylococcus [skin flora], Micrococcus species [skin and environmental flora]). The researchers theo- rized that the presence of the organisms was not a result of inadequate processing but of contamina-
72 hours
7 days when processed and stored according to professional guidelines and manufacturer’s instructions
No recommendation
tion during testing procedures or storage. The researchers concluded that when correctly pro- cessed and stored, flexible endoscopes were safe to use for a period of 7 days before reprocessing. In a multiphase study to assess the microbiologi- cal load of endoscopes after HLD, Vergis et al280 eval-
uated four duodenoscopes and three colonoscopes. In Phase 1, the endoscopes were sampled daily after HLD for a period of 2 weeks. This process was repeated in Phase 2. In Phase 3, the endoscopes were
