Single use equipment is used up to 20 times, says report

Many critical and semicritical single use medical devices are being used up to 20 times in Canadian acute care hospitals, and this compromises the safety of patients, says Medical Devices Canada, which represents manufacturers of medical devices.

A preliminary report from a study undertaken by the Canadian Hospital Epidemiological Committee and the federal health department (Health Canada), as part of the Canadian nosocomial infection surveillance programme, said that a survey of 741 hospitals, to which 422 (57%) responded, showed that only...