Tips, Tricks and Insights for Endoscope Sampling and Culturing
Employing an endoscope sampling and culturing program can be very beneficial in detecting contamination before patient use and provides oversight in reprocessing equipment maintenance.
A culturing program is a great way to boost an internal quality assurance plan. However, endoscope surveillance culturing is a complicated task that requires specific resources, training and expertise.
Based on the US FDA/CDC/ASM Duodenoscope Surveillance Sampling and Culturing Protocols (2018), this article focuses on the aspects health care facilities will be most involved in, such as what is involved in obtaining a sample from the endoscope and the interpretation of laboratory results. Data have been gathered from a post-market surveillance study performed by Olympus, giving insight to those wishing to implement or improve upon an endoscope sampling and culturing program.
Please note that this white paper is based on the United States perspective and research.