Irish guidelines

It was terrific to read and hear Michael Kavanagh's comprehensive rundown yesterday on the current situation regarding development of guidelines for disinfection/decontamination of ultrasound probes in Nanosonics target markets. However, I would have thought NAN researchers and the Irish distributor for trophon would have tipped him prior to yesterday's presentation that Irish guidelines were approved on 26 January 2017 and digitally released this month.

The Irish guidelines are available here: http://www.hse.ie/eng/about/Who/qua...und-Probe-Decontamination-Guidance-Feb-17.pdf and they are well worth more than a passing glance. Based on Scottish guidelines from March 2016, the Irish guidelines improve on the Scottish guidelines from both a high level disinfection and validation perspective. One of the best takeaways from the document for me was the note at the bottom of page 8, which states:

"(Note: HLD using the manual multi‐wipe system is the least preferred option for
disinfecting SIUPs. Internationally it is recognised that the use of an automated
validated process for decontaminating RIMD will provide enhanced risk reduction
of infection transmission. It is recommended that a local risk assessment is
performed if this option is to be used as an interim measure prior to
implementation of an automated process)"

Now, it's true that the Irish market for trophon is neither here nor there when it comes to global market penetration, but the golden point here is that the development of Welsh,then Scottish,then Irish guidelines have followed a pattern which has become progressively more favourable towards high level disinfection of ultrasound probes in both scope and intent, and in my view, this surely bodes well for the forthcoming English guidelines.

zeno9