30 August, 2021
The Hospital Clínic group incorporates disposable duodenoscopes in order to reduce the risk of in-hospital infections
One of the main concerns in a hospital environment is avoiding nosocomial infections, ones which are contracted during a stay in a hospital and are usually caused by multidrug-resistant bacteria. During the COVID-19 pandemic, preventing infections of this type gained even more importance to, somehow, slow the spread of the disease. One of the possible sources of infection is when instruments that are difficult to disinfect are used on multiple patients.
“The endoscopes are made up of complex mechanisms that are difficult to disinfect 100%, this means that the complete sterilisation of these instruments is not always achieved”, explains Dr. Andrés Cárdenas, consultant at the Instituto Clínico de Enfermedades Digestivas y Metabólicas del Hospital Clínic (Clinical Institute of Digestive and Metabolic Disease of Hospital Clínic) and specialist at barnaclínic+. This is why, at Hospital Clínic group we’ve started using disposable duodenoscopes, a type of endoscope that’s longer in length and, due to its special characteristics, particularly complicated to effectively sterilise.