1539 Flexible Nasoendoscopy – Is It Clean? Can You Prove It?. (12th October 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Teklay, S; Green, F; Nix, P
• Is Part Of: British journal of surgery. Volume 108:Supplement 6(2021)
• Publication Date: 2021-10-12
• Subjects: Surgery -- Periodicals; 617.005
• DOI: 10.1093/bjs/znab259.171
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0007-1323

Abstract

Abstract: Aim: Flexible Nasoendoscope (FNE) is an essential device routinely used to assess patients who present acutely to the Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) department with signs and symptoms of ENT pathologies that may compromise the patient's airway. It is imperative the scope is decontaminated before and after each use. The "Tristel Trio Wipe" decontamination methodology is employed by most ENT departments in UK and the process utilises an audit logbook to correctly document the sterilisation process as well as allowing accurate patient traceability. The audit aim was to conduct a review of documentation of patient traceability and FNE sterilisation after each use on ENT patients in the acute setting. Method: Retrospective audit over one-month periods 11/10/2019 –10/11/2019 (Audit 1) and 26/12/2019 – 21/01/2020 (audit 2). Tristel audit logbook and electronic patient note on PPM+ were used for data collection. Data was analysed using Microsoft excel. Results: 100% of FNE decontaminations used correct Tristel Trio Wipes. However, audit one demonstrated 54.5% compliance with correct documentation of FNE sterilisation process and 0% had recorded all traceability information. Following intervention of easier identification of FNE scopes and their storage; as well teaching ENT Senior House Officers and registrar about the correct documentation of decontamination process, compliance improved to 81%, while traceability increased to 39% during the re-audit. Conclusions: As a department, we have significantly improved our compliance with both correct documentation of FNE sterilisation and patient traceability information following the intervention above. A further 3 rd audit cycle is planned.