In focus
A new generation of airway visualisation
The Standards in airway management are changing and the clinical community is increasingly embracing visualisation devices to enhance patient safety and control costs. This trend is further accelerated as clinical studies document the benefits of using advanced visualisation equipment and in the extensive NAP4 report from UK that underlines the importance of adding visualisation devices to the toolbox in airway management.
Availability
Insufficient availability of equipment for management of the difficult airway and bronchoscopy is considered among the major causative factors contributing to poor patient outcomes.
Think about it — do you always have immediate access to a flexible bronchoscope when you need it?
Infection control
Flexible bronchoscopes are difficult to clean and disinfect due to their long, narrow lumens and delicate materials. The question is whether it is possible to ensure a clean scope after reprocessing.
Contamination and inadequate cleaning of endoscopes has been recognized as a major patient safety issue by the ECRI.
Health economy
The combination of capital investment, repair and reprocessing of reusable bronchoscopes adds up to a per-use cost of more that hospital staff often realize.
Do you know the true cost of using a reusable bronchoscope?
Environmental Impact
Leading environmental professors from the University of Southern Denmark have investigated the impact of single-use bronchoscopes compared to the complex and resource demanding cleaning process of reusable bronchoscopes.
