Evaluation of 12-Week Shelf Life of Patient-Ready Endoscopes.

Current research suggests that for certain types of gastrointestinal endoscopes, longer shelf life (the interval of storage after which endoscopes should be reprocessed before their reuse) may not increase the likelihood of endoscope contamination. Scope contamination may, in fact, be related primarily to either inadequate disinfection processes or inadvertent contamination during storage, not to duration of storage. The purpose of this study evaluated the presence of bacteria and fungus following liquid chemical sterilization in colonoscopes and gastroscopes, after 12 weeks of shelf life during which time personal protective equipment was used during endoscope storage cabinet access.

Ethnicity and foster care: census data as predictors of placement variables.

An epidemiological approach to foster care is presented, in which two separate data sets are used to analyze issues of ethnicity and child placement. A national probability sample and a large-city sample are drawn from the 1980 Office of Civil Rights ethnic survey and from the 1980 U.S.

Ethnicity and service delivery.

This paper reports research representing part of a systematic effort to operationalize ethnic issues in service delivery. An attitude scale was developed and applied to a national sample of child welfare workers and to minority workers in innovative ethnic settings. Significant differences were found related to sample, age, ethnicity, and agency type.