Record attendance at the DGSV Congress
23rd DGSV Congress in Fulda, 2 to 4 October 2019
Gudrun Westermann
The German Society of Sterile Supply (DGSV e.V.) Congress on medical device reprocessing was held from 2 to 4 October at its usual venue, the Esperanto Congress Centre in Fulda.
This year’s congress broke a new record with over 1000 delegates in attendance and 32 lectures on offer.
Medical device reprocessing continues to be a delicate balancing act
Marc Thanheiser described in his opening speech medical device reprocessing as a delicate balancing act. He pointed to a long list of different working groups, committees and bodies engaged in the formulation of requirements which, however, were not always entirely mutually compatible. Besides, the legal provisions were being constantly amended; that meant that the onus was on the operator to stay abreast of the relevant changes in their own area.
By way of example Thanheiser drew attention to some of the significant deviations between the various national and international regulations, such as the provisions of the Commission for Hospital Hygiene and Infection Prevention at the Robert Koch Institute (KRINKO), German Technical Regulation on Biological Substances (TRBAs), DIN, EN, ISO standards, VDI guidelines and the guidelines compiled by the specialist societies on the room air quality specified in a Reprocessing Unit for Medical Devices (RUMED). The KRINKO Recommendation assigned the air quality a secondary role and did not address any specific requirements to it. Conversely, DIN 1946-4 set out detailed specifications for the temperature as well as for the atmospheric pressure and pressure gradients. Similar inconsistencies were seen in the requirements for surface disinfection and in the limit values applied to the residual protein load. Fortunately, the various bodies were compelled to reach agreement on the relevant content,
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