2023-05-15 14:41:13
Investigation
Serious hygiene and maintenance problems in Swiss hospitals
Swissmedic reveals that 93% of establishments do not meet the legal requirements for cleaning and sterilization. The staff is also poorly trained in vigilance.
Posted
The lessons learned by Swissmedic show that Swiss hospitals need to improve considerably.
20min/François Melillo
And Swissmedic report is hardly reassuring for all those who have to undergo a procedure in the hospital. Indeed, the Therapeutic Products Institute conducted inspections in 35 of the country’s 300 establishments in 2021 and 2022. Conclusion: In 93% of them, inspectors found deficiencies with regard to reprocessing, i.e. the processes such as cleaning, disinfection, packaging, lack of operational control or even sterilization and storage of medical devices intended for reuse.
However, reprocessing is a “critical activity” for patient safety (potential risk of infections due to contaminated instruments), and it must be carried out exclusively by qualified personnel, notes Swissmedic.
Poor maintenance
Swissmedic also scrutinized “maintenance”, which involves servicing, repairs and inspections to keep a medical device functioning properly. “It is essential that maintenance be carried out by qualified personnel so that devices such as scanners and surgical robots can be operated and used in complete safety,” he stresses.
Verdict: In 58% of the hospitals inspected, the various maintenance processes were not sufficiently regulated and did not comply with the requirements.
Staff poorly trained in vigilance
Third component: vigilance, which aims to prevent the appearance or repetition of undesirable incidents and thus improve the safety of products and patients. In this regard, hospitals and professionals are required to report any serious incident to Swissmedic and to suppliers. Verdict: 72% of the hospitals inspected either lacked a vigilance concept or had an insufficient concept that did not meet the requirements. In 76% of cases, the medical staff “were absolutely not trained or insufficiently trained in the declaration of serious incidents”.
Swissmedic concludes by emphasizing that “Swiss hospitals need considerable improvement and investment in technical quality management, initial and continuous training of reprocessing staff and the infrastructure of reprocessing services”. According to the institute, “the deviations observed have a direct or indirect impact on the safety of the devices and therefore on the safety of the patients. “Therefore, it is essential that hospitals implement improvement measures and comply with legal requirements.”
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