Endoscopy cabinets are critical to your practice and can represent a significant capital expenditure. We want to provide the specific answers you need to confidently make a purchase decision. Let us connect you with an industry expert from Harloff for a virtual demo and get those specific answers.

Endoscope Drying Cabinets Are a Critcal Part of Your Infection Control Effort

To understand the important role endoscope storage and drying cabinets play, let's turn to the Joint Commission, the nation's oldest and largest standards-setting and accrediting body in healthcare. From the Joint Commission:

• "More health care-associated outbreaks of infection have been linked to contaminated endoscopes than to any other medical device"¹
• "Endoscope reprocessing has a narrow margin of safety; any slight deviation from the recommended reprocessing protocol can lead to the survival of microorganisms and an increased risk of infection."²

The Joint Commission's perspective is widely shared. The Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN) stresses that "missing just one step or failure to complete any phase in endoscope reprocessing can result in patient exposure to harmful contaminants that can lead to infections, increased hospital stays, increased medical costs, and even death."³

In its outline of standards for endoscope reprocessing, the Society of Gastroenterology Nurses and Associates (SGNA) observes that drying "is a critical element in reprocessing" and that "a drying cabinet dries the entire endoscope, the channels, and the outside." Drying cabinets with high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters provide "microbial-free air that is blown through the endoscope channels to ensure that they remain dry."⁴

The Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation® (AAMI) recently updated its guidance in ANSI/AAMI ST91:2021 (Flexible and semi-rigid endoscope processing in health care facilities) to discourage manual scope disinfection, recognizing that some facilities face "major changes and even major purchases" adopting the current recommendation, but that "responsible health systems and facilities will not hesitate to adopt the changes...."⁵

Our Harloff Endoscope Drying Cabinets Address This Critical Requirement

Whether you're using scopes from Olympus, Wolf, Fuji, Pentax or any other flexible scope manufacturer, our Harloff endoscope drying cabinets help you meet Joint Commission, AAMI, AORN, and SGNI guidelines.

Harloff endoscope product range includes models with:

• an industry-best external HEPA filtered positive pressure drying system with 3 intake fans and 2 exhaust fans
• a HEPA filter that offers a 99.97% retention rate of particles that have a size > 0.3μm
• handles for cystoscopes, bronchoscopes, and transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) scopes
• Dri-Scope Aid® — an industry-leading internal drying system that supplies HEPA-filtered air to all internal channels with an automated drying cycle for improved turn-around times

Dri-Scope Aid® is a key part of your infection control protocol. It significantly improves drying of internal channels, producing a short drying cycle for quick turn-around time. Compatible with all major endoscope brands, Dri-Scope Aid® features disposable connectors to meet SGNA and AORN guidelines. A Dri-Scope Aid® specialist directly assists in the installation of every Harloff endoscope drying cabinet with this feature. It is noteworthy that a Harloff cabinet with Dri-Scope Aid® served as the testing reference for ANSI/AAMI ST91:2021.

The table below summarizes key features on several Harloff scope drying cabinets:

Have questions about how Harloff endoscopy cabinets can help you meet Joint Commission, AAMI, AORN, or SGNI Guidelines? We want to provide the specific answers you need to confidently make a purchase decision. Let us connect you with an industry expert from Harloff for a virtual demo and get those specific answers.

Provide Harloff Drying Cabinet Advantages To Your Savary-Gilliard® Dilators

Harloff's broad drying cabinet range allows you to provide the same benefits of larger endoscope cabinets to your Savary-Gilliard® Dilators. Models provide drying capability and vertical storage for up to 36 savary dilators with easy in/out access for nurses and staff.

References:

¹ https://www.jointcommission.org/resources/news-and-multimedia/newsletters/newsletters/quick-safety/quick-safety-issue-11/

² Ibid.

³ https://www.aorn.org/blog/flex-endo-disinfection

⁴ https://www.sgna.org/Portals/0/SGNA%20Standards%20of%20infection%20prevention%20in%20reprocessing_FINAL.pdf?ver=2018-11-16-084835-387

⁵ https://www.aami.org/news/article/st91-extensive-updates-for-endoscope-cleaning-patient-safety

We've covered a lot of ground on a topic that's critical to your practice and can have a significant impact on your capital equipment budget. We want to provide the specific answers you need to confidently make a purchase decision. Let us connect you with an industry expert from Harloff for a virtual demo and get those specific answers.