Reprocessing medical devices is crucial to patient safety and the prevention of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs). A study by The Joint Commission in 2016 found that 74 percent of all immediate threat to life declarations were associated with the improper equipment sterilization or high-level disinfection. Similarly, performance of intermediate and high-level disinfection and sterilization of medical equipment, devices, and supplies was recorded as an area with the highest non-compliance amongst facilities surveyed in 2022. Similarly, a survey of infection preventionists in the US found that 20% of respondents were aware of a time that a probe used in a procedure was incorrectly processed. This response rate likely represents an underestimate because deviations from the reprocessing procedure may go unnoticed. Together, these findings suggest that many facilities continue to struggle with proper medical device reprocessing.
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