According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), stethoscope hygiene is critical when addressing disease transmission. Since the CDC shared this view, concerns relating to healthcare-associated infections (HAI) have drastically risen. Literature in this field suggests that medical devices are often overlooked as avenues for pathogens to spread through touch, contrary to the popular belief that hand contact is only a concern in the clinical setting. After this, the main perpetrators of disease and bacteria spread are stethoscopes – due to ineffective hygiene methods and their frequency of contact with patients.
AseptiScope®, a California-based medical device startup, has developed an innovative DiskCover® System which prevents stethoscopes from coming into direct contact with patients during examinations. This novel technology is now being adopted by leading cancer centers across the United States, safeguarding vulnerable patients and tackling the issue of alcohol-resistant pathogens.
Image Credit: AseptiScope®
Stethoscopes, or a ‘clinician’s third hand’ as they are commonly called, come into contact with American patients more than five billion times each year and can be as contaminated as unwashed hands. Such findings reveal that measures for infection control have not adequately considered the risk of certain medical apparatus, especially stethoscopes. As highlighted by the National Library of Medicine, less than 4% of encounters involved stethoscopes that were disinfected in line with CDC guidelines. Due to realities like these, it’s highly plausible that patients are exposed to pathogens every time they visit a hospital.
Previous guidelines have misclassified the concern of stethoscopes as “noncritical,” despite evidence showing the opposite. Since, experts in the field have called on the CDC to elevate this concern to one that is as significant as a clinician’s hands. As a response, the CDC issued that stethoscopes do in fact ‘transmit via touch’, and like hands, hygiene measures should be implemented between every patient examination.
Decades of disinfection using isopropyl alcohol have sparked the development of alcohol-resistant pathogens that are capable of surviving longer than the recommended 60 seconds of cleaning. To combat this, disposable stethoscope diaphragms have been proposed as a new strategy to mitigate transmission, while experts in leading cancer centers call for novel solutions and updates to CDC guidelines.
The DiskCover System is a new technological development demonstrating instant resolution to contamination and transmission via the stethoscope. The cutting-edge system has proven to be effective beyond previous methods of disinfection, eliminating direct contact between the patient and the stethoscope. This way, each examination is clean and eradicates patients’ exposure to harmful pathogens.
In recent years, experts at U.S. cancer centers have suggested that stethoscope hygiene should be reprioritized as a “new normal.” When comparing data associated with hygiene, experts concluded that the DiskCover System’s touch-free, aseptic barriers were superior across a variety of considerations. Significantly, they were seen to provide an “aseptic point of contact 100% of the time,” which brings patient safety to new heights.
MD Anderson Cancer Center held its annual conference (emergencies in oncology) in Houston, Texas, where several abstracts were presented regarding stethoscope contamination. Included was a publication titled “stethoscopes no longer need to touch patients” which received great interest from the experts in attendance.
Scott Mader, CEO of San Diego-based AseptiScope believes that the DiskCover System is a revolutionary way to address major issues of patient safety. It has been designed to be convenient, easy to use, and immediate, with a goal to completely halt the transmission of pathogens.
“Cancer patients are more susceptible to infection due to their course of treatment, stethoscope exams, and routine in patient assessment,” said Gerardo Midence, MD, an oncologist at the St. Joseph Cancer Center in Lewiston, Idaho. “We evaluated The DiskCover System and found it useful, practical, and functional. Importantly, it makes stethoscope hygiene more reliable and timely.”
Placed at hand hygiene stations, where healthcare providers are trained to stop before and after seeing a patient, The DiskCover System is unsurprisingly preferred by clinicians for its efficient, time-saving nature.
As for patient experiences, the DiskCover System is transformational, as it is a visible indicator of their protection. Patients reported to investigators at the Cleveland Clinic, that they rarely saw stethoscope cleaning taking place and felt the DiskCover System was a great way to help them feel safe.
Dr. Eric Crawley, a specialist at Hawaii Pacific Health, adds: “I use this every single day, on every single patient, and, without fail, patients are blown away by it. They are incredibly impressed by our commitment to their safety. I deal with a considerable number of transplants, immuno-suppressed patients, and people that don’t need to pick up resistant pathogens.”
Post-pandemic – an era where patients are increasingly wary of cleanliness – the need for reliable, effective, and transparent infection control measures is more critical than ever before. Literature in this field has long recognized the alarming severity of pathogen transmission through stethoscopes and healthcare providers are starting to take note. With its breakthrough technology, the DiskCover System allows for touch-free diagnostics to take place and enables patients to feel at ease, assured that providers remain committed to the prevention of infection and the growth of resistant pathogens that have recently come into play.
