Contaminated Medical Device
 

A contaminated medical device is thought to be the cause of two deaths in LA.

Seven people were infected and two died. They were infected by antibiotic resistant bacteria in a Los Angeles hospital. This was from endoscopic procedures, but could just as well have been from colonoscopies I suppose.

Disinfecting procedures didn't work.

Going to the hospital is getting more and more dangerous.

This was in today's Daily Sun. (02-20-15)

Wrong! The disinfecting procedures were not followed properly. There is a difference and it is important.

Doesn't make it any safer. Now I have to worry about someone taking shortcuts disinfecting medical tools.

Z

It makes it correctable. That makes it safer.

Sounds like an opportunity for non re-useable products....like so many other things are these days. A legitimate cause for health care cost increase....for a change.

Good thought, but the expense would be astronomical. Endoscopes and associated equipment run north of $50k per scope.

I envision that only the parts that enter the body to be disposable. Whether these devices would be able to take advantage of disposables, I have no idea.

Just think of all the endoscopic and minimally invasive tools that are highly repetative repeat use instruments.

If the majority of issues are operator (cleaning) error. That is easy to fix.
Then enforce what they should already be doing.

Even though an incidence of one is not acceptable, the number out of the thosands used is statistically pretty small. I do vote they do whatever needs to be done for zero defects!!!

Contaminated Medical Device
 

I agree. The scope is what enters the body and the interior of the scope contains most of the expensive components. I'm trying to think how the exterior could be made disposable. Another issue is that there are several channels in the scope along with the fiber optic bundle. Various instruments can be passed through the channels. Without proper cleaning the channels and instruments can also become a source of infection.

The supervisor in the respiratory therapy dept. where I worked years ago actually had used, non re-usable equipment, "sterilized", reused and charged to the next patient as a new disposable item. Chilling and scary.

Not sure why the info...
 

given was wrong...passing bad info is a no-no...

Actually I believe I read the procedures were followed; however, they were apparently not sufficient.

Your post make me think one day I will die.

Not sure you are 100% correct on this statement. The mere nature of the equipment and movable parts make the serialization problematic. Did the hospital follow CDC guidelines? I expect they would have. I was was a Critical Care nurse eventually working in Nursing Administration. This was a major concern during the Aids crisis in the 80's and 90's. We followed ate accepted guidelines that included soaking in a solution for a designated period of time after instrument being flushed repeatedly. Can you ever be sure all bodily fluids have been removed and instrument totally disinfected? We do our best.

Contaminated Medical Device
 

I did a little more research and found that those investigating the incident believe proper cleaning processes were not followed. That is most often the case. Another common situation is that the person performing the procedure uses poor technique.

I believe we often read into news articles what we are wanting to hear.