MARCH 17, 2021

Farming Out Sterilization Can Work For Some Physician Practices

Process efficient for many instruments but not endoscopes

An increasing number of patients are seeking care at physician-based practices, which use many of the same instruments hospital practices use—including reusable endoscopes and surgical equipment such as forceps, which must be sterilized. But these busy practices often lack the training and resources to properly sterilize these tools.

Sensing the potential risk, an infection preventionist and her colleagues at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, in Philadelphia, took action. Working with