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Hygiene

Hand washing and disinfection are among the most important measures to prevent infections with viruses or bacteria. However, an important aspect of hygiene in the clinical environment is also the sterile reprocessing of instruments. Read more about effective hygiene measures and new findings – especially in the context of the Covid 19 pandemic.

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News • Follow the evidence

Optimising preventive measures to stop surgical infections

Why are we doing what we are doing to stop surgical infections? A new research review in the run-up to the ECCMID congress 2024 will look at improving preventive measures.

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News • Medical technology review

Artificial intelligence: huge potential in infection control

PPE compliance, air and environment monitoring, antibiotic treatment decision support: AI has great potential to help prevent infectious disease outbreaks, a review at the upcoming ECCMID points out.

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Sponsored • Sterilizer for hospitals

Eco-sustainable medical waste treatment

Newster’s Frictional Heat Treatment enables hospitals to process hazardous solid waste onsite in a sustainable and cost-effective way. It is a sustainable alternative for the treatment of medical…

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News • Lessons learned from the pandemic

Should mask rules remain in health care settings?

Rates of Covid-19 are decreasing and many healthcare workers stop wearing face masks. However, that may not be such a good idea, a new commentary from US experts suggests.

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News • Study on gentle cleansers

Virus-killing properties of soaps: No need for the 'hard stuff'

Gentle cleansers are just as effective in killing viruses – including coronavirus – as harsh soaps, according to a new study from scientists at the University of Sheffield.

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Sponsored • Outlook for 2023

Hygiene in endoscopy: What’s next?

For many endoscopy wards, 2022 has been a year of transition and transformation. The field saw the advent of innovative reprocessing techniques, but also increasing strain due to personnel shortage…

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Article • “Taiwan Excellence” at Medica 2022

Sustainable solutions for post-pandemic healthcare

Innovative gastrointestinal imaging, medical panel PCs with hygiene optimisation, smartphone-based diagnostic tools, and sustainable hardware setups: At Medica 2022, manufacturers from Taiwan again showed their capability to adapt and provide solutions for a world radically changed by the Covid-19 pandemic. Under the “Taiwan Excellence” banner, outstanding products from the island nation’s…

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Article • Infection prevention

Making endoscopy safe and sustainable

Hygienic, single-use components are widely used in endoscopy to ensure patient safety but are considered wasteful. Reprocessing is a more sustainable alternative but requires special equipment and training to avoid equipment contamination. This creates an area of conflict for physicians, hospital staff, but also for manufacturers. We spoke with two experts at Pentax Medical about challenges in…

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News • Nosocomial infection prevention

Improving hospital hand hygiene compliance with smart measurement system

Water, hygiene and infection prevention solutions and services provider Ecolab launches its Hand Hygiene Compliance Measurement (HHCM) System, a digitally connected technology to systematically monitor and improve hand hygiene in healthcare settings, across Europe. In healthcare settings, clean hands save lives. While the Covid-19 outbreak increased adoption of hand hygiene measures at first,…

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Article • Preventing endoscope contamination

Ways to enhance hygiene in endoscopy

Stringent endoscope cleaning between procedures is vital. However, with so many steps in the process – plus high demand for rapid turnaround of endoscopes – contamination and biofilm build-up are still being reported. Endoscope hygiene and cleaning protocols were central to an online event organised by Pentax Medical, with important contributions from leading specialists. The event examined…

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Video • Medical professionals’ perspectives

Solutions to improve hygiene standards

Improving hygiene standards is important to patient safety. What better way to learn more about considerations for improving hygiene standards, than from first hand experiences from medical professionals? Research shows that to create and maintain an endoscopes’ disinfected status, complete drying is an absolute necessity. Flexible endoscopes should be completely dried after completion of the…

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Sponsored • Hardware and software solutions

Integrated OR and hygiene belong together

According to the German Federal Ministry of Health, 400,000 to 600,000 patients are diagnosed with hospital-acquired infections every year. The treatment of these nosocomial diseases is complex. Hygiene is a must, especially in the operating room. The IT environment should be designed accordingly.

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Article • Sterilising with VHP, EO or HPGP

Sterilisation study puts cleansing methods to the test

A new study from the USA highlights how low temperature sterilisation can jeopardise effective cleansing of medical tools and lead to transmission of dangerous bacteria to patients. Steam sterilisation was shown to be the most effective and robust sterilisation technology. However, the researchers, working at the University of North Carolina, also showed that vaporised hydrogen peroxide (VHP)…

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News • Inspired by insects

Improving the efficiency of antibacterial surfaces

Resistance to antibiotics has become a serious public health problem. Hospital infections, prostheses or surgical implants that become infected and do not respond to treatment are a real challenge to the research community, which has been seeking alternatives for effectively eliminating these bacteria for years. In 2012 the researchers from the Department of Chemical Engineering of the…

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