Manual cleaning and disinfection of flexible endoscopes--an approach to evaluating a combined procedure.
Compliance in endoscope reprocessing is unsatisfactory worldwide. The success of the reprocessing procedure relies upon both disinfection and cleaning. Products for instrument disinfection have to be tested accordingly. However, there is still no accepted standard against which to test the result of the cleaning procedure. Different strategies for endoscope reprocessing are possible: one- or two-step procedures. The decision for the method chosen strongly depends on the possibilities in individual hospitals. Products based on glutaraldehyde should not be used if it is not absolutely certain that instruments are already clean. There has to be an awareness that instruments are not designed for easy cleaning. A one-step procedure with products based on aliphatic amines could be an alternative. Methods of assessing such a procedure are suggested.
Knieler
R
R
BODE Chemie GmbH and Co., Hamburg, Germany.
D001412:Bacillus subtilis / Q000187:drug effects; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000635:transmission; D004202:Disinfectants / Q000494:pharmacology; D004203:Disinfection / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards*; D004353:Drug Evaluation, Preclinical; D019723:Endoscopes / Q000382:microbiology*; D004866:Equipment Contamination / Q000517:prevention & control*; D017743:Equipment Reuse; D005976:Glutaral; D006801:Humans; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000187:drug effects
D004202:Disinfectants; D005976:Glutaral