bronchoscopy, endoscopy, COVID-19, novel coronavirus, single-use

Bronchoscopy Applications

Our Top Bronchoscopy Stories From 2020

Be sure to follow our coverage and analysis in 2021, we plan to bring lots of compelling storytelling your way on flexible endoscopy challenges and best practices.

COVID-19 dominated the news in 2020 and the same is true here at Single-Use Endoscopy: Performing bronchoscopies during the novel coronavirus pandemic is the focus of four of our five most-read stories this year.

Those posts covered everything from task force recommendations on safely performing bronchoscopies to how to best treat COVID-19 patients.

Here are the top five posts, in descending order; we hope you’ll revisit them. And please be sure to follow our coverage and analysis in 2021, we plan to bring lots of compelling storytelling your way on flexible endoscopy challenges and best practices. Thanks for reading and have a happy new year!

5. Here’s Why Reprocessing is More Expensive Than Purchasing a Single-Use Bronchoscope

Hospitals that disinfect and reuse bronchoscopes pay anywhere from 21 percent to 155 percent more per instrument than if they had purchased a sterile, single-use bronchoscope, and that cost is driven up by a host of factors that impact the hospital personnel charged with reprocessing the instruments.

4. COVID-19 Task Force Recommends Single-Use When Bronchoscopy is Warranted

The first recommendations from the American Association for Bronchology and Interventional Pulmonology, meant to ensure patient safety as well as the safety of the healthcare community, back when the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic in March.

3. Video Tutorial: How to Reduce Aerosolization During Bronchoscopy

In late March, WHO published a brief that highlighted the many ways a healthcare professional could contract COVID-19 via airborne transmission, when disease microbes remain in the air for long periods of time.

2. How COVID-19 is Making the Case for Single-Use Bronchoscopes

Despite all the uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, one thing remains clear: the obligation of the physician to do no harm. The question moving forward in the fight against the novel coronavirus will be how, exactly, providers can fulfill that obligation — especially for patients who are already vulnerable. Becker’s Hospital Review probed that and other questions in a feature story.

1. Risks and Best Practices for Bronchoscope Use on COVID-19 Patients

In this webinar, Cori L. Ofstead provided front-line clinicians and personnel with critically important information about risks associated with the use of bronchoscopes among patients with COVID-19.

A final note: Another page that drew lots of traffic in 2020 was our Bronchoscope Cost Calculator. It’s an easy and interactive way to compare the costs of reusable and single-use bronchoscopes. With just a few questions, you can calculate your facility-specific cost per procedure. Check it out.

More Pulmonology Articles
Are You Following The Right Pulmonology Influencers?
Best Practices
For a broader look at social media in the medical world, the Healthcare Hashtag Project describes itself as a platform that connects doctors, caregivers, patient advocates and other providers to relevant conversations and communities.
Healthcare Shortage Means High Caseloads for Physicians
Public Health
A ranking of specialties by caseload answers the question of which physicians are responsible for the highest number of patients. Wonder where your specialty comes in?
More From Single-Use Endoscopy
Study Finds Single-Use Gastroscopes Effective in Advanced Procedures

Emerging Technologies

Single-use scopes are known to be capable of diagnostic procedures, but little research had tested their therapeutic capabilities.

Study: Patients Prefer Option of Selecting Endoscopes

Public Health

A study out of Malaysia showed healthcare consumers, if given the choice, preferred a single-use endoscope over a reusable one or a doctor’s preferred device.

See what made ERCI

Public Health

Successful device reprocessing requires clear instructions to keep patients safe, the organization says in its closely watched annual report.