Jocelyne M Basseal 1 and Susan Campbell Westerway 2,
1 Australasian Society for Ultrasound in Medicine (ASUM), Level 2, 511 Pacific Highway, Crows Nest, NSW 2065 Email: j.basseal@asum.com.au
2 Faculty of Dentistry & Health Sciences, Charles Sturt University NSW AUSTRALIA
As ultrasound technology rapidly evolves and is used more frequently in every area of medical diagnosis and treatment, it is vastly overlooked as a potential vector in the transmission of a health care associated infection. A huge concern is the dereliction of duty of busy ultrasound operators to thoroughly clean ultrasound machines pre- and post- patient use and the lack of importance given to this issue. To comprehend these issues further, a survey on current methods of ultrasound transducer disinfection was launched to all ASUM members. Results from the ASUM survey and reprocessing challenges within the clinical setting will be discussed.
