ARTICLE SUMMARY:
A French start-up offers a chemical-free approach to ensuring the sanitary safety of medical equipment.
Contracting an illness in the course of healthcare might sound ironic, but it is a surprisingly common occurrence. Between 4% and 5% of all patients who undergo a hospital stay or medical exam, about 1.7 million people in the US annually, develop a healthcare-associated infection (HAI), leading to almost 100,000 deaths per year. The majority of these infections can be traced to surgical procedures, though ultrasounds and other exams that involve entering a bodily cavity with an ultrasound probe are also frequent culprits. In fact, scientific data indicates that, even after being wiped, 13% of vaginal ultrasound probes test positive for HPV1, which may lead to ovarian cancer.
Plus, as Germitec Chairman of the Board Vincent Gardès points out, “We know that with the increasing demand for ultrasound exams, our mission is to make professionals’ daily lives easier and improve their quality of life at work, while strengthening the safety of care.” Proper disinfection protocols for medical equipment are paramount, but staff shortages, high turnover, stressful work environments, and burnout may all be contributing factors to inadequate tool sanitization.
