To prevent infections, gastrointestinal nursing and technical personnel must be ever conscientious about safe and effective endoscope reprocessing. This interactive session will illustrate the internal and external structure and function of the endoscope, review the incidence of infection transmission via endoscopy, and explore industry standards and guidelines relative to infection prevention in endoscopy. Automated endoscope reprocessors (AERs) and United States Food and Drug Administration- (FDA) approved high level disinfectants will be appraised. A discussion of the risks of biofilms within endoscopes and AERs, with recommendations to reduce the risk, will be included.

Section Description

We are pleased to present the abstracts from sgna's 36th annual course, SGNA: your gateway to opportunity. The diversity of these topics certainly reflects the richness and breadth of our specialty. in keeping with the tradition of the annual course, we hope the following abstracts will encourage discussions for improving nursing practice and patient care outcomes.