DIRTY SURGICAL INSTRUMENTS PUTTING PATIENTS AT RISK
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 12, 2012 Email info@susl.co.uk Website www.susl.co.uk Contact: Alycia Burton Tel: +44 1226 732 333 Email: a.burton@susl.co.uk DIRTY SURGICAL INSTRUMENTS PUTTING PATIENTS AT RISK Reports by The Center for Public Integrity (CPI) and NBC News suggest surgeons are using medical instruments contaminated with hidden tissue, blood and debris. Single Use Surgical recommends replacing difficult-to-clean devices with single-use to protect patients from hospital acquired infection It started with the case of John Harrison, a 63 year-old from Texas, who experienced severe complications two weeks after what should have been a routine operation on his shoulder. During emergency surgery doctors discovered that Harrison had been infected with P.aeruginosa, a potentially lethal bacterium that had eaten away part of the bone in his shoulder and rotator cuff. And this was not an isolated incident; Harrison was one of seven joint surgery patients who had also contracted infections during a two week period at The Methodist Hospital in Houston. This outbreak stimulated the hospital and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to launch an inquiry into how the bacteria had survived the cleaning and sterilisation process. The results revealed that there were two likely sources of the infection: from an arthroscopic shaver, a power tool used to shave away bone; and the inside of a long narrow cannula used for irrigation and suction of the surgical site. As part of the investigation, they also inspected areas of these surgical instruments that are invisible to the naked eye using a small camera. The findings showed that although the tools appeared clean on the outside, the internal picture was much different, with human tissue and bone found in the devices. Additionally sterilisation staff had not been cleaning cannulae using brushes but simply by running tap water through the instruments. The Tip of the Iceberg Some may argue that the Methodist case was a one off. However when Joe Eaton, an investigative reporter at CPI, chose to explore the wider picture in the US, the results were shocking. Eaton found that the Methodist incident is one of many where the use of improperly cleaned instruments has led to patient infection. One such case was brought to light in 2009 when the Department of Veterans Affairs issued a statement that 10,737 US veterans may have been infected by dirty endoscopes. A number of those patients have since tested positive for HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C. Furthermore Eaton brought to light the findings of Jahan Azizi, a Risk Management Clinical Engineer at the University of Michigan Health System. Azizi inspected the inside of 350 suction tips after cleaning and sterilization and found that all of the suction tubes contained blood, bone, tissue and even rust. It could be said that the instruments had not been cleaned properly. However Azizi tested this theory by then cleaning all the instruments following manufacturer’s instructions and inspecting them again. Reexamination showed only 7 of the 350 suctions were free from debris. Azizi chose to investigate suction tubes as they are used in almost every surgical procedure. Following his research he said “I don’t know who approved this [suction tubes] or who made this a reusable item, but this is not a reusable or cleanable item…there are a lot of them that are difficult or impossible to clean.” The CPI report added to this, commenting on how surgical advancement has led to the demand for more intricate instruments with narrow channels amongst the features; “those tiny channels become clogged with unseen blood and tissue” Eaton said. SUS AEB

Email info@susl.co.uk Website www.susl.co.uk Eaton also spoke to Charles Hancock, an independent medical device sterilization consultant who commented on how the time constraints put on sterilization staff could also be contributing to improperly cleaned devices. Instruments are often cleaned too rapidly but Hancock also said that they can often sit around for hours, even days, before cleaning which allows blood and debris to dry. If an instrument is then improperly cleaned, heat from sterilization can “bake” the debris onto surgical tools; creating hardened deposits that are very difficult...

Email info@susl.co.uk Website www.susl.co.uk About Single Use Surgical, Inc. Single Use Surgical provides an alternative to reprocessing instruments with narrow channels. It offers a wide range of disposable suction tube instruments for use in surgical procedures across several specialties. The company’s focus on high quality, ergonomic design and customer support provides hospitals with a cost-effective alternative to reprocessing difficult-to-clean instruments. Switching to single-use also reduces the volume of complex devices that pass through Central Sterile, helping to alleviate time...