Assessment of effectiveness of a cluster-testing method for cleaning and disinfection of flexible endoscopes
OBJECTIVE To investigate the quality of cleaning and disinfection of the internal channel and each inter-face of flexible endoscopes by applying cluster-testing methods,and to evaluate the effectiveness of endoscopic cleaning and disinfection quality.METHODS Eighty-five cleaned and disinfected endoscopes were examined simul-taneously using a cluster testing method,visual inspection of the exterior of the lumen,adenosine triphosphate(ATP)testing,microbial culture,and portable lumen instrument visualization system observation.RESULTS Vis-ual inspection of the 85 endoscopic external surface found that the external surface of 3 endoscopes had mild abra-sion.The endoscopic lumen failure rates detected by ATP test from high to low order were bronchoscopy,gastros-copy,and enteroscopy.327 specimens collected from endoscopic lumen,biopsy channel,air/water channel,and suction channel were tested by bacteriological detection,of which 46 were positive,with the highest positive rate of 34.12%being detected in endoscopic lumen,and the difference between the positive rate of bacterial detection of various parts was statistically significant(P<0.05).Portable tube lumen instrument visualization system showed that 78 endoscopes had scratched lumen,with the top scratches rate of 94.29%in gastroscopes.Scratches were positively correlated with ATP detection and bacteriological detection.CONCLUSION The application of the cluster-based detection method could compensate for the limitations of single detection methods for endoscopy de-tection,evaluate the effectiveness of endoscopy cleaning and disinfection,and provide guidance for endoscopy-re-lated hospital infection prevention and control.
Cluster testingSoft endoscopy cleaning and disinfectionQuality evaluation