Reuse in sterile sites of single‐use medical devices: how common is this in Australia?

Objectives To determine to what extent Australian hospitals reuse in sterile sites medical devices labelled “single use only”; to assess the adequacy of cleaning and sterilising procedures before reuse; and to estimate the possible incidence of cross‐infection and the costs of not reusing these devices. Design A self‐administered questionnaire survey. Setting All Australian hospitals (419) with more than 45 beds and undertaking medical and surgical procedures. Methods Questionnaires were sent to hospital infection control practitioners in 1994 requesting information about reuse in sterile sites of single‐use medical devices, the extent of reuse, the cleaning and sterilising processes involved, and the reasons for reuse. Results Responses were received from 168 hospitals (40%). Reuse occurred in 64 (38%), and another 33 hospitals had been reusing medical devices 12 months before our survey (i.e., 97/168 hospitals [58%] were either reusing them at the time of our survey or had been doing so 12 months previously). More large (>300 beds) metropolitan public hospitals (9/14; 64%) reported reusing than did smaller (50/143; 41%) or private hospitals (15/47; 32%). At six of the 64 hospitals where reuse occurred, the process of cleaning and/or sterilisation of these devices was not satisfactory; from the information we received, both cleaning and sterilisation were satisfactory in only 38 hospitals (59%). Examination of the 14 most commonly reused devices showed that the structure of 13 of these may compromise cleaning (and therefore sterilisation). The main reason given for reuse was cost saving. Assuming a 2% prevalence of transmissible infections in blood, and an infection transmission risk of 1/500, we estimate that each year in Australia there may be 40 cases of cross‐infection for every one million procedures performed with reused devices (0.004%). Conclusions Reuse of medical devices labelled “single use only” is common in Australian hospitals. Most devices appear to be unsuitable for reuse. Complete cessation of this practice of reusing single‐use medical devices would stop potential cross‐infection, but this would cost an estimated $2.5 million or more per case prevented.