As medical specialties go, endoscopy is somewhat of a laggard when it comes to incorporating single-use screening devices. But that is finally changing.
Becker's Hospital Review held a webinar in January sponsored by Ambu, the world leader in single-use endoscopy. Moderated by Bassel Rifai, Ambu's chief marketing officer, a panel of endoscopy experts discussed how single-use endoscopy is solving long-simmering challenges. Panelists were:
- Austin S. Rose, MD, professor & vice chair, finance, University of North Carolina School of Medicine
- Måns Barsne, executive vice president, global chief innovation officer, Ambu A/S
- Jens Kemp, vice president, marketing, Ambu Inc.
Three key takeaways:
- Despite remarkable progress in medical device technology, most endoscopes are still reusable. Starting in the 1980s, as awareness around infection control and cross-contamination in hospital settings grew, health systems began requesting disposable single-use designs. As a result, many medical devices today are single use. However, in endoscopy, technological limitations around image quality delayed the shift. Ambu started developing single-use endoscopes in 2006 and introduced the first one in 2009.
- Single-use endoscopy has a positive impact on clinical workflows, costs and patient outcomes. It achieves these benefits by:
- Freeing up precious resources by removing the need for cleaning and reprocessing. This means health systems can add scheduling flexibility and increase patient throughput without needing more staff. "That is an incredibly strong driver, especially now with COVID and the impact on staff shortages," Mr. Kemp said.
- Lowering capital investment and operating costs. Unlike reusable devices, which require allocation of capital as well as operating costs for cleaning, sterilization, repairs and replacement, disposable endoscopes entail expenditures that depend exclusively on the number of procedures performed, with minimal initial investment.
- Driving positive patient feedback. In addition to their infection control advantages, single-use endoscopes produce increased patient satisfaction. There are many patients who appreciate the obvious sterile nature of an endoscope that's opened right in front of them rather than a reusable one that we present as clean but is not opened right out of the package," Dr. Rose said.
- Enabling improved communication within and between hospital teams and services. Thanks to the portability of the devices, images and video can be directly shared without having to connect to an online portal, which is crucial in emergency situations. Because single-use endoscopes are also designed to integrate with EMR systems, there is no loss of functionality compared to reusable devices.
- Technology trends are driving the future of single-use endoscopy. There are four major trends that will affect endoscopy as a field and single-use endoscopes as preferred devices. They are:
- Patient safety. Single-use devices protect against cross-contamination, while advancements in sensor technology and image quality enable early detection and prevention of disease. "[The sensor industry] is willing to invest in medical devices; they see that as the future and that's helping us move forward," Mr. Barsne said.
- Environment. As main concerns revolve around environmentally sustainable healthcare and green materials, there is a focus on phasing out and eventually replacing PVC in packaging and device components.
- Availability. The growing demand for healthcare is inversely related to time and clinician availability and forces budget restrictions. Single-use endoscopy alleviates these issues by simplifying workflows, eliminating wait times and allowing faster product upgrades. "We are using a consumer electronics philosophy, having a new version at least every second year," Mr. Barsne said.
- Convenience. Modular engineering approaches drive fast iteration and adaptation of products to meet clinicians' needs and patients' preferences.
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