COVID-19: What to Consider in Selecting a High Level Disinfection System for Ultrasound Probes

4 Key Considerations:
1. Workflow
2. Traceability
3. Automation
4.Validation

1. Workflow

To meet the clinical workflow requirements, medical staff need to consider the turnaround times between patients. This will ensure ultrasound probes can be efficiently disinfected between patients to help maximise patient throughput. If efficient turnaround times are not achieved, purchasing extra probes and hiring dedicated staff in disinfecting probes might be required, adding additional costs and time in disinfecting extra probes.1-7

2. Traceability

Traceability records of HLD must be kept, by following standards or guidelines (ie AS/NZS4187:2014 (Clause 2.4.3.2 (a), ACORN Standards) to ensure a system of traceability is in place to enable recall procedures to be followed in case of decontamination failure.1-4

3. Automation

Automation provides further benefits over manual disinfection that includes reproducible and consistent disinfection processes between operators, reducing staff error and no exposure to chemical fumes if UV-C High Level Disinfection is implemented.1,3

4. Validation

Automated verification system monitors the critical process parameters, in real time, to ensure High Level Disinfection efficacy is achieved. This is harder to achieve with a manual system.1-6

  1. National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC). Australian Guidelines for the Prevention and Control of Infection in Healthcare. Canberra, Australia: NHMRC; 2019.
  2. Standards Australia/Standards New Zealand. AS/NZS 4187:2014 Reprocessing of reusable medical devices in health service organizations (superseding AS/NZS 4187:2003). Standards Australia; 2014.
  3. ACIPC-ASUM. Guidelines for Reprocessing Ultrasound Transducers. Australasian Journal of Ultrasound in Medicine. 2017;20(1):30-40.
  4. Standards Australia/Standards New Zealand. AS/NZS 4187:2014 Reprocessing of reusable medical devices in health service organizations (superseding AS/NZS 4187:2003). Standards Australia; 2014.
  5. Therapeutic Good Administration (168TGA) 1998. Guidelines for the evaluation of sterilants and disinfectants. Available at: https://www.tga.gov.au/sites/default/files/disinfectants-evaluation-guidelines.pdf
  6. National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC). Australian Guidelines for the Prevention and Control of Infection in Healthcare. Canberra, Australia: NHMRC; 2019.
  7. Kollmann, C. and K. Salvesen (2017). “Best Practice recommendations for cleaning and disinfection of ultrasound transducers whilst maintaining transducer integrity.” European Committee for Medical Ultrasound Safety (ECMUS).
  8. JACQUES S. et al. (2017) GUIDELINES FOR CLEANING TRANSVAGINAL ULTRASOUND TRANSDUCERS BETWEEN PATIENTS World Federation for Ultrasound in Medicine & Biology
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