Thousands of veterans exposed to HIV and Hep through contaminated colonoscopies

Once upon a time, I used to work at a Dr's office in the back office. We all took turns cleaning the flexible sig. We'd get all gowned, gloved and goggled and spend THREE FULL HOURS taking that thing apart, piece by piece, and scrubbing each little microscopic inch of it with this horrid-smelling yellow green slimy liquid called "Cidex".

Merely "washing it off" is UNACCEPTABLE procedure. The folks who are in charge of making sure that safety procedures are followed, should be made to have the flex sig used on them - one after the other!!!

SHAMEFUL!!!

This is absolutely Unacceptable! all the way from 2004 until now? this is ridiculous. i'm so tired of hearing horrid stories involving our VA hospitals. our veterans deserved better patient care than they're getting...this shouldn't happen at any hospital. our government needs to have better oversight of VA hospitals.

i am just so totally disgusted.

leslie

they should very ashamed of themselves. that is disgusting.

the scopes in the endo unit where i used to work were brushed with metricide, flushed with glutaraldehyde, heated in the steamer and then cleaned in rapicide for 45 minutes after ea and every use and that is how it should be.

What is it lately with the problem with unsterile equipment in GI labs, this is about the third article I have read of different places so you know there is much more. Did the recommendation for GI lab say something like "you don't have to sterilize??" .. this is appalling!

Rinsed after each use, and only sterilized at the end of the day? So the only patient who had contact with properly sterilized equipment was the first patient of the day?

Let's see, do we rinse surgical trays between cases and only sterilize them at the end of the day? Do we rinse laryngoscopes after each intubation and only sterilize them at the end of the day? Do we rinse delivery room instruments after each use and only sterilize them at the end of th day?

How can anyone, anywhere, with any degree of experience in health care have possibly believed this was OK?

this is exactly what i thought too. anyone with half of a brain knows that the colon is dirty.
i wonder if it was just out of sheer laziness on the part of the person supposed to be "washing" the scopes?

That is totally, totally gross.

ahh, the VA; gotta love 'em (actually, I was thinking about getting one-- thanks for the warning, although now might be the best time)