title: Principles of infection prevention and reprocessing in ENT endoscopy.
abstract: This article gives an overview on the principles of reprocessing of rigid and flexible endoscopes used in ENT units including structural and spatial requirements based on general and ENT-specific risks of infection associated with diagnostic and therapeutic endoscopy. The underlying legal principles as well as recommendations from scientific societies will be exemplified in order to give a practical guidance to the otorhinolaryngologist. Preliminary results of a small nation-wide survey on infection control standards based on data of 29 ENT practices in Germany reveal current deficits of varying degree concerning infection control management including reprocessing of endoscopes. The presented review aims to give support to the establishment of a structured infection control management program including the evaluation of results by means of a prospective surveillance.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Hygiene and Environmental Medicine, University Medicine of Greifswald, Germany.
authors.forename: Axel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kramer
authors.affiliation: Hospital Hygiene of the University of Mainz, Germany.
authors.forename: Wolfgang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Kohnen
authors.affiliation: Institute for Hygiene and Environmental Medicine, University Medicine of Greifswald, Germany.
authors.forename: Susanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Israel
authors.affiliation: Institute for Hygiene and Environmental Medicine, University Medicine of Greifswald, Germany.
authors.forename: Sylvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ryll
authors.affiliation: Institute for Hygiene and Environmental Medicine, University Medicine of Greifswald, Germany; Institute for Medical Diagnostics, Greifswald, Germany.
authors.forename: Nils-Olaf
authors.initials: NO
authors.lastname: Hübner
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Otolaryngology, St. Johannes Hospital Dortmund, Germany.
authors.forename: Horst
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Luckhaupt
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Otolaryngology, University of Greifswald, Germany.
authors.forename: Werner
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Hosemann
keywords: flexible endoscopes; infection risks; reprocessing; rigid endoscopes; spatial requirements