For the second consecutive year, education and training topped the list of strategies that should guide the future of sterile processing, according to a recent survey of experts.

Those were the results of a Healthcare Purchasing News survey. The publication asked device manufacturing and reprocessing product executives to rank seven strategies in an order that would best direct the future of the reprocessing field.

Demanding, receiving, and following validated instructions for use (IFUs) ranked second on the list, followed by holding staffers accountable and responsible for endoscope cleaning violations.

Switching to and utilizing single-use endoscopes occupied the final three slots on the list. Single-use endoscopes “don’t represent the silver bullet that some might hope will solve the quality issues bedeviling SPD operations,” the authors write. “[T]his represents less of a device issue and more of a communication, education and training issue that must be checked and solved regardless of the device or technology being upgraded or redesigned.”

Medical device companies are taking aim at both device challenges as well as so-called human factors in developing a range of endoscopes that can be used once and discarded, or have disposable components. Such devices, from the likes of Ambu A/S and Boston Scientific, are winning converts thanks to their ability to prevent cross-contamination and boost patient safety, and have won newfound regulatory support.

In June 2021, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) updated a safety communication on reprocessing flexible bronchoscopes to recommend that healthcare providers consider using single-use bronchoscopes when there is increased risk of spreading infection and when treating COVID-19 patients.

A few months before that, in April 2021, the FDA announced new investigations into numerous medical device reports (MDRs) related to urological endoscopes.

And in August 2019, the FDA recommended duodenoscope manufacturers and healthcare facilities transition to partially or fully disposable duodenoscopes.