Editorial comment: Reuse of disposables: Let's not embrace waste
✍ Scribed by Turi, Zoltan G.
- Book ID
- 101244006
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1996
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 235 KB
- Volume
- 38
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0098-6569
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
The article by Grimandi and colleagues in this issue of the Journal carefully examines some aspects of catheter reuse and concludes that the practice is unsafe. Although only one type of sterilization technique was tested, the authors concur with others [I] that the risks of reuse outweigh the potential benefits.
The standard concerns regarding reuse relate to four areas [2]: I) adequacy of cleaning and sterilization to prevent infection, chemical toxicity, and pyrogen reactions; 2) physical properties of disposables after reprocessing; 3) cost benefits; and 4) legal liability. With regard to infection, the primary concern has been residual contamination resulting in bacterial sepsis or viremia,