Published online Feb 20, 2015. doi: 10.5493/wjem.v5.i1.33
Peer-review started: August 6, 2014
First decision: September 16, 2014
Revised: September 19, 2014
Accepted: November 17, 2014
Article in press: November 19, 2014
Published online: February 20, 2015
Core tip: High-level decontamination processes to ensure iatrogenic infection prevention in the delivery of high-quality gastrointestinal (GI) endoscopy services are essential. There are three important steps that must be highlighted: manual washing, automated endoscope washer reprocessing and adequate drying/storage after rinsing. Our experimental data demonstrated that surveillance culture monitoring that can detect unsuccessful decontamination provides a much greater assurance of quality control for high level disinfection. This monitoring should be taken into account in order to ensure safety when a patient receives GI endoscope service. Randomized surveillance culture monitoring of the reprocessing process in each month is important for quality control and in ensuring patients’ safety.