A new study shows a number of single-use medical devices are reused by Canadian hospitals. Further, the majority of facilities that reuse the devices sterilize them in-house, a practice not endorsed by infection control experts.
"I'm absolutely appalled," Mark Miller, head of infection control at Montreal's Jewish General Hospital, said of the study's findings.
Of 398 hospitals included in the report, 28 percent acknowledged reusing single-use devices, including biopsy forceps used in stomach and bowel surgery, membrane scrapers used in eye surgery, tools used to bore through bones, and breast pump kits. Though some reprocessing is done by US Food and Drug Administration-approved companies, 85 percent of the hospitals said they did reprocessing work in-house.
Dr. Michael Gardam, head of infection prevention and control for Toronto's University Health Network and the study's senior author, said the true numbers are likely even higher.
Blood-borne diseases like HIV and hepatitis C can be transmitted via improperly cleaned devices. In recent years, several hospitals have urged former patients to be tested for these diseases after finding that reused devices were not sterilized properly. In 2004, around 1,500 hip surgery patients in Quebec had to be tested due to poorly cleaned drill bits.
According to Health Canada, rules concerning reuse of the devices fall to the provinces and territories. Manitoba bans the reuse of devices after contact with blood or body parts. As of January 1, British Columbia permits reuse only if reprocessed by regulated firms.
The study, "Reprocessing and Reuse of Single-Use Medical Devices: A National Survey of Canadian Acute-Care Hospitals," was published in the journal Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology (2008;29:437-439).
05/26/08
CANADA: Hospitals Still Reusing Disposable Devices
Source: Toronto Star:: Helen Branswell; Canadian Press; Courtesy of the CDC National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention