In a recent press release, AAAHC announced they released a new toolkit to help eliminate failures or lapses in flexible endoscope reprocessing through detailed guidelines and thorough checklists.
The resource is designed to help health care organizations review and assess flexible endoscope reprocessing policies and procedures to mitigate risk of associated patient infection.
Flexible endoscopes are used in early detection of diseases such as colorectal cancer – which is the second leading cause of cancer death in men and third in women.i Flexible endoscope interventions, such as colonoscopies, enable providers to remove adenomas, thus reducing morbidity and mortality, in a cost-effective way. In 2017, the ECRI Institute, an international nonprofit applied medical research organization, named inadequate cleaning of complex, reusable instruments – such as endoscopes – as one of the top ten “technology hazards” in healthcare.ii
“Over the last several decades, we have seen an increase in the number of failures or lapses in flexible endoscope reprocessing as well as patient infections reported,” said Naomi Kuznets, PhD., vice president and senior director of the AAAHC Institute. “The costs of these failures include patient morbidity, mortality, pain and suffering, and decreased productivity, as well as legal, testing and treatment costs.”
To read the full press release, click here.
i American Cancer Society. Key Statistics for Colorectal Cancer. https://www.cancer.org/cancer/colon-rectal-cancer/about/key-statistics.htmlcancer.org/cancer/colon-rectal-cancer/about/key-statistics.html
ii ECRI Institute. Top 10 health technology hazards of 2017. Executive Brief. Health Devices.ECRI Update. November 2016.
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