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There is a growing emphasis on quality management in endoscope reprocessing. Previous surveys conducted in 2002 and 2004 were not practitioner-oriented. Therefore, this survey is significant for being the first to target actual participants in endoscope reprocessing in Korea.
This survey comprised 33 self-filled questions, and was personally delivered to nurses and nursing auxiliaries in the endoscopy departments of eight hospitals belonging to the society. The anonymous responses were collected after 1 week either by post or in person by committee members.
The survey included 100 participants. In the questionnaire addressing compliance rates with the reprocessing guideline, the majority (98.9%) had a high compliance rate compared to 27% of respondents in 2002 and 50% in 2004. The lowest rate of compliance with a reprocessing procedure was reported for transporting the contaminated endoscope in a sealed container. Automated endoscope reprocessors were available in all hospitals. Regarding reprocessing time, more than half of the subjects replied that reprocessing took more than 15 minutes (63.2%).
The quality management of endoscope reprocessing has improved as since the previous survey. A national survey expanded to include primary clinics is required to determine the true current status of endoscope reprocessing.
Citations
Gastrointestinal endoscopy is gaining popularity for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. However, concerns over endoscope-related nosocomial infections are increasing, together with interest by the general public in safe and efficient endoscopy. For this reason, reprocessing the gastrointestinal endoscope is an important step for effective performance of endoscopy. Disinfectants are essential to the endoscope reprocessing procedure. Before selecting an appropriate disinfectant, their characteristics, limitations and means of use must be fully understood. Herein, we review the characteristics of several currently available disinfectants, including their uses, potency, advantages, and disadvantages. Most disinfectants can be used to reprocess gastrointestinal endoscopes if the manufacturer's guidelines are followed. The selection and use of a suitable disinfectant depends on the individual circumstances of each endoscopy suite.
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Depth of invasion is one of the most important factors for establishing treatment strategy for colorectal tumors.
Three blinded experts reviewed electronic photos and video clips of 33 early colorectal cancer-like lesions. They estimated the depth of invasion based on conventional white light endoscopy (CWE), magnifying chromoendoscopy (MCE), and magnifying narrow band imaging endoscopy (MNE).
The lesions included nine mucosal low-grade neoplasias, 16 mucosal high grade neoplasias, and eight carcinomas with invasion to the submucosal layer or beyond. The diagnostic accuracy for submucosal invasion by CWE ranged from 67% to 82%, while those by MCE and MNE ranged from 85% to 88% and 85% to 88%, respectively. The diagnostic accuracy significantly differed between CWE and MCE (
The estimation of submucosal invasion for early colorectal cancer-like lesions based on MCE or MNE is more accurate than CWE. MCE and MNE were demonstrated to have substantial agreement for predicting submucosal invasion.
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