STERILE PROCESSING


Aligning on aeration, drying, storage and transport standards


by Kara Nadeau


321811567 © olgasparrow | stock.adobe.com


A


s if the work of sterile processing (SP) professionals wasn’t complex enough, advances in medical and


surgical technologies continue to present them with additional challenges. This is cer- tainly the case with endoscopes and other medical/surgical devices and instruments with channels, lumens, and other hard to see/hard to reach areas.


Beyond cleaning and disinfecting these


items is the challenge of aeration and drying, with U.S. guidelines recommending fl exible endoscopes with channels be dried for a minimum of 10-minutes (or until no visible moisture remains).1, 2 In the typical SP department with limited


instrument inventory, staffi ng challenges, and pressures to turn these items around quickly for subsequent procedures, 10 min- utes can seem like 10 hours in the face of competing priorities.


And then there is the challenge of storing


and transporting scopes and devices in a way that keeps them free from contamination. Aeration, drying, storage and transport isn’t a new topic, but it is one that warrants further discussion. HPN contacted SP leaders and industry experts for their insights and best practices in this area of reprocessing.


It pays to stay ahead


“It feels like every few months there is a small change in scope processing guidance,” said Buskol. “The more investigating they do with the scopes, they more they learn, and we must confi gure those learnings into practices for our team members to employ.”


20 December 2023 • HEALTHCARE PURCHASING NEWS • hpnonline.com


Planning ahead: the Sanford Hospital Sioux Falls story The Sanford Hospital Sioux Falls Central Processing/Surgical Services department processes mostly bronchoscopes, nasopha- ryngeal scopes, and laryngoscopes for the operating room (OR) and respiratory teams, while the hospital’s GI department processes its own endoscopes. HPN spoke with the hospital’s Lead Coordinator, Central Processing/Surgical Services Lori Buskol about her department’s scope/device aeration, dry- ing, storage and transport processes. She described how she and her team keep up with changing standards and recommen- dations and offered advice to other SP teams facing similar challenges.


Lori Buskol


The Sanford Hospital Sioux Falls SP team


takes a proactive approach to endoscope processing standards. Buskol, who serves as the department’s instrumentation lead coordinator, and the quality lead coor- dinator, are constantly reading the latest endoscope processing recommendations and updates to manufacturer instructions for use (IFUs). She stated:


“Endoscopes has been a huge vocal point for the past couple of years and we can see these changes happening. We try to get ahead of it with our team by looking into things - what does the research show, what are industry associations saying, what do they anticipate for changes, will there be recommendations or suggestions? If they are starting to use certain verbiage, we feel we should probably take that next step and investigate it.”


“We spend so much time researching before it becomes a problem,” she added. “We fi nd it’s very helpful because it always keeps us ahead. We want to be there and ready so when The Joint Commission visits us, they will say ‘you’re a step ahead.’ And that’s what we want to be.” Every Monday, Buskol and the quality lead coordinator meet with their department


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36