Sanovas Calls for Manufacturers to Include 'Aided Visual Inspection' in Reusable Medical Device IFU

Sanovas asserts that, in the wake of recent headlines about infections stemming from inadequately reprocessed medical devices, the medical device industry should be including "aided visual inspection" as an integral part of the instructions for use (IFU) of its reusable medical devices.

"Sophisticated, reusable medical instruments are very difficult to clean," says Ralph Basile, vice president of marketing at Healthmark Industries, an OEM partner of Sanovas and a leading supplier of cleaning verification products to healthcare facilities. "A key step in that process is to visibly inspect to insure there are no residual contaminants on, or inside, the device after cleaning. But this has been nearly impossible to do with only the naked eye."

"Healthcare facilities and medical device manufacturers share a dual responsibility-healthcare facilities must clean and sterilize devices in compliance with the instructions for use of the device manufacturers; and the device manufacturers must provide instructions that can be realistically implemented by the reprocessing personnel to produce safe and ready-to-use medical devices," says Jahan Azizi, former risk management clinical engineer at the University of Michigan Health System, and director of regulatory affairs at Heart Sync. "What's missing is that reprocessing must include aided visual inspection of the areas of devices that are not viewable to the naked eye, to help insure that a device has been effectively reprocessed and is safe to use on the next patient. This has just not been happening."

Now, a new concept in reprocessing, a micro digital camera called the MicroCam™, is enabling Healthmark Industries to incorporate this inexpensive and tiny camera into its Flexible Inspection Scope to empower reprocessors to see inside difficult-to-clean medical devices.

The Flexible Inspection Scope with MicroCam is already being used by central processing departments in more than two dozen hospitals around the U.S. so that reprocessors can visually inspect the inside of tough-to-clean medical devices prior to sterilization, to ensure that they are completely clean.

"For the first time, central processing departments are able to see inside of medical devices, then document what they see, and then reprocess the medical device if necessary. All of this is done to increase patient safety. Patient safety is central to the use of the Flexible Inspection Scope with MicroCam," Basile says.

"Hospitals are obliged to respect and follow whatever the Instructions For Use are from the medical device manufacturers. Therefore it is incumbent upon the device manufacturers to be the catalyst for change by making inspection of hidden areas of the device a part of their IFU for their reusable medical equipment," Azizi says.

Source: Sanovas