Award Recognizes Article for Highlighting Dangers of Contaminated Equipment

An article drawing attention to the efforts of AAMI, ECRI Institute, and the International Association of Healthcare Central Service Materiel Management to improve reprocessing has received a prestigious award from the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA).  The ASJA awards presentation will take place April 25 at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City.

Laura Beil, a health and science journalist, won the Significant Topic Award for her article “The Dirty Truth About Hospitals,” which appeared in the September 2012 issue of Men’s Health. Beil, who worked as a medical writer at the Dallas Morning News from 1992-2006, describes how an improperly cleaned piece of medical equipment can sicken patients, from postoperative infections to hepatitis C.

As devices become smaller and more sophisticated, the potential for bone, blood, and other bodily fluids being left behind in crevices increases, Beil’s article notes. Although the technicians cleaning these instruments are skilled, they have to read a number of manuals from different manufacturers to understand how to clean various tools. These technicians also face intense pressure, leading to a high turnover rate.

The article details some of the problems healthcare facilities face when trying to reprocess medical instruments, providing some gruesome details of what can happen when an instrument isn’t properly cleaned. One instrument she discusses at length is the endoscope, which, if improperly reprocessed, can expose a patient to a number of diseases, including hepatitis B and C, as well as HIV. ECRI repeatedly has named improperly reprocessed endoscopes as a top infection risks.

To help healthcare technology management professionals properly disinfect these devices, AAMI recently released a video on managing endoscopes. The video is aimed at helping healthcare facilities and biomedical professionals by demonstrating the use and care of endoscopes. It is available for $115 for members and $195 for nonmembers at www.aami.org.

Biel also mentions AAMI’s October 2011 joint summit with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on improving reprocessing. Biel cites the summit as a way regulators are starting to give reprocessing its “due.” At the summit, which brought together about 300 stakeholders, attendees discussed such goals as gaining a consensus on how “clean is clean,” as well as developing creating clear, standardized instructions. To read the report resulting from the summit, click here.

AAMI, the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation, is a nonprofit organization founded in 1967. It is a diverse community of nearly 7,000 healthcare technology professionals united by one important mission—supporting the healthcare community in the development, management, and use of safe and effective medical technology.