The flexible bronchoscope damages in a teaching bronchoscopy unit

Abstract

Background: Bronchoscopic procedures are associated with costs for purchasing and maintaining the equipment. Significant share of bronchoscopy unit budget represent costs of repairs for damaged bronchoscopes which are supposedly higher in the teaching centers. The purpose of the study was to determine frequency, sort and cause of bronchoscope damages as well as costs of repair.Methods: We retrospectively studied frequency, sort, cause and repair costs of bronchoscope damages for 13 new bronchoscopes, which were introduced in a program between August 1, 2001 and December 31, 2006.Results: We registered 47 bronchoscope damages during the study, which represents 1 damage per 141.6 procedures. 6 (12.7 %) damages were potentially preventable with more careful approach. The most frequent wear and tear injury was rubber sheath injury on the distal bending portion of flexible bronchoscope and the most frequent preventable injury was the damage of the working channel of the bronchoscope. Repair costs amounted to 34,950.00 EUR, which means 5.25 EUR per procedure. We could spare mostly 17,781.00 EUR with more attentive work. Application of the bronchoscopes for educational purposes was not associated with higher rate of bronchoscope damages at our institution.Conclusions: Repair costs represent a significant share of bronchoscopy unit budget. We demonstrated that only a smaller number of bronchoscope damages in our unit are potentially preventable, but they still represent an important amount of expenses. Relatively small share of preventable damages during regular program and teaching procedures is attributable to a good bronchoscopy training programme, which is attended future bronchoscopists in our institution.

Keywords

• bronchoscope
• equipment damage
• education
• repair
• training
• budget