Over the last decade, incidences of outbreaks from infections that can be attributed to poorly disinfected endoscopes have been showing up in the news regularly. So much so that regulatory bodies from the US Congress to the FDA have been increasing their scrutiny of these extremely useful, yet sometimes problematic reusable medical instruments. Many different […]
Over the last decade, hospitals have made a varying amount of investments into their supply chains to drive costs out of their organizations. While many hospitals have been at the forefront of moving to automation technologies such as RFID and bar-coding, many other hospitals still rely on pen and paper-based manual processes to run their
Why Hospitals Need To Re-Evaluate Their Supply Chain Automation Efforts Read More »
The US Government is continuing its scrutiny of Olympus and the other major endoscope manufacturers following several reports of infections related to duodenoscopes in recent years. The latest chapter includes a letter written by a US Senator asking for additional information regarding duodenoscope investigations. Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) wrote a letter to the three major
Government Continues Probe Into Manufacturers of Contaminated Duodenoscopes Read More »
In today’s environment, Endoscopy and PeriOperative departments need to be very careful to follow their endoscope reprocessing protocols extremely closely. With all the reports of superbug outbreaks due to the inadequate disinfection of scopes, it is the primary job of sterile processing (or whichever department oversees reprocessing scopes) to provide safe endoscopes to use on
Are You Reprocessing Endoscopes Efficiently? Read More »
During a recent weekend shift, nearly a half million dollars’ worth of colonoscopes were stolen from a hospital outside of Philadelphia. 3 thieves were suspected of walking out of Lankenau Medical Center with the equipment in broad daylight. This is not the first time this has happened with flexible endoscopes. In 2017, over $1 million
Nearly Half Million Dollars In Endoscopes Stolen From Pennsylvania Hospital Read More »
Many Perioperative departments have told us that their recent visits by The Joint Commission (TJC) included a more in-depth review of their tissue implant logs. A number of Perioperative administrators and nurses agreed that during their last visit from TJC they wanted to see a higher level of documentation when it comes to tracking tissue
Track Tissue From Dock To Patient With This Automation Technology Read More »
The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has released another update regarding its research into the safety and contamination risks associated with the use of duodenoscopes. After receiving further research results, the FDA is reiterating its previous recommendations regarding the proper handling and reprocessing of duodenoscopes that it released in a Safety Communication in
FDA Releases Update On Contamination Risks Of Duodenoscopes Read More »
Extra-long scopes, such as small bowel enteroscopes, can often be a challenge for endoscopy departments to track and manage. Their long bodies do not fit easily in to the standard scope storage cabinets that are typically used to store all scopes. Because of this challenge, most hospitals store their extra-long scopes in standard storage cabinets
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Managers of Endoscopy and PeriOperative departments often see a constant stream of endoscopes being sent out for repair and loaner scopes being sent back to them for “temporary” use. However, it is all too common for these loaner scopes to become a permanent part of their scope fleet – they are hard to track and
Having Trouble Tracking Loaner Scopes? This Technology Can Help Read More »
According to a recent survey, most hospital executives agreed that better supply chain management can increase profit margins by up to 3%. However, these same executives agreed that not enough investment in supply chain technologies and improvements have been made and that supply chain departments are using outdated technology to accomplish their mission. The survey,
Survey: Better Supply Chain Management Will Boost Margins Significantly Read More »