Disinfection practices for endoscopes and other semicritical items.

Objective: To determine the disinfection practices employed by North Carolina hospitals for endoscopes and other semicritical patient care items and to discuss minimally acceptable disinfection procedures for these items.

Design: A survey questionnaire was mailed to all North Carolina hospitals to identify their disinfection practices, and a literature review was conducted to ascertain studies that evaluated disinfection techniques for certain semicritical items.

Participants: Questionnaires were returned by 107 of 167 (64%) North Carolina acute-care hospitals.