EBME Forums Forums Free discussion Free discussion Decontamination.

I am interested to hear what policies different hospitals adopt with regards to equipment decontamination of Medical Devices prior to repair within your department.
Do you insist on a proper decontamination certificate ?, or, Do you accept it is as 'socially clean' ?

At Kings College Hospital only staff within the Liver unit complete certificates at the moment. As part of the revised Medical Device Management Policy this will change in the near future.It has been agreed to relaunch a policy to recieve certificates from everyone.We do however strictly adhere to the practise of refusing to accept contaminated equipment. It gets returned pronto to the ward or department !

We have a system of pre-printed "post it notes" which users complete and stick on to the equipment to state contamination status before we collect it. I can send you a sample if you'd like. Paul

Paul
Could you send me one too, or post the details of the company that you buy them from,
TA VERY MUCH,
John.

Our Trusts' "official" policy is that we are entitled to the same protection as an outside contractor (who must be sent properly decontaminated equipment for repair) so we are only supposed to accept equipment into the workshop if it is accompanied by a decontamination certificate. We use the one out of the MDA document and just photocopy it !
In practice there is a lot of equipment which comes to us from various sources and no one is prepared to put their name on anything to say it is clean. The equipment coming off the Wards always has a certificate, but is often "dirty" - because the wards simply don't have the facilities or the knowledge to clean it properly.
Still, Controls Assurance will sort it all out for us !

Roy
Does 'Jackanory' ring a bell? I think we have 2 hopes of enforcing decontamination policies, and one of those is Bob.
I wonder whether the certificate is actually of any substance? I know some EBME/medical engineering departments have a decontamination area, where they follow local guidelines on cleaning and decontaminating equipment. This is probably the best option. At least you know it has been done. [alternatively , rubber gloves?]
John.


[This message has been edited by John Sandham (edited 01 August 2000).]

Go on then. I'll walk straight into this one ! Who is BOB ?
There is an old saying - if you wan't something doing properly, do it yourself - and cleaning medical equipment definately comes under this ! We are reluctant to take it on officially because the lads feel they are employed as technicians / engineers, not equipment washers.
Tell me more about these rubber gloves.

Roy
Who's Bob? Bob Hope of course! The alternative was 'NO' i.e. no hope.
I agree that in an ideal world we would not have to clean equipment - but this is the real world. Rubber gloves? Very useful for keeping your hands clean. Good for entertaining kids too, blow them up, paint eyes and hey presto - a chicken! I am sure that there are other uses not to be mentioned on this forum.
John.

Thanks for everyones comments on the decontamination issue. Obviously no easy solution to this one. At present I think ... educate hospital staff, ask them to sign and tag equipment prior to returning for repair, and from our point of view always treat it as contaminated. If it is obviously contaminated then return it to the ward/dept and draw their attention to HSG (93)26.

Paul
Could I get a sample of the post-it note please.
Thanks Declan