Several gastrointestinal societies issued a joint statement March 11 rejecting the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation’s 2021 revisions to endoscope processing standards in healthcare facilities.
The revisions lacked data to back up claims and transparency in the development process, had disparities in the normative and formative sections, and the guidance was impractical and inappropriate, the societies claim.
The revision includes updated guidelines for cleaning, packaging, storing, disinfecting and sterilizing flexible and semirigid gastrointestinal endoscopes. The societies endorsed evidence-based recommendations for reprocessing of flexible gastrointestinal endoscopes and said the revisions "varied significantly" from standard guidelines.
The societies included the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, American College of Gastroenterology, American Gastroenterological Association, American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons, American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons and Society of Gastroenterology Nurses and Associates.
Click here to read the full statement.