Here is my opinion based upon my experience assisting with Bronchoscopy procedures in the past.

The Bronchoscope had, at one time, a port or channel specific for the vacuum system to attach to clear mucus and other fluids from the area the physician is attempting to view and perform a procedure in the patient's lungs.

In my opinion the lack of vacuum in the scope clean room to connect to TEST the cleaned scope prior to sending it back to being used on the next patient does not appear to be a wise position to take. It has been common for those who perform the scope cleaning and cold sterilization to test the scopes prior to packaging for use.

Additionally, the cold sterilant used for scope cleaning is an irritant to tracheal tissues and requires cleaning from the scope vacuum channel best performed by application of vacuum to the channel and caught in a vacuum bottle on the wall.

I think the annex advice is well intentioned but is not available to us to enforce a restriction on the placement of vacuum in the scope cleaning area. Decontamination is a different scenario from the scope cleaning area.

Please share your thoughts and concerns. This topic really sucks!

Carsten, thanks for that write up explaining the scope cleaning process.  That has always been a bit of a black box for me and having someone explain what the vacuum is being used for is very helpful.  It sounds like they are still going to be evacuating liquid as part of this process.  The issue we have most often found is that the staff is not using canister traps as part of their process and as a result they are sucking large amounts of liquid into the system, which is also a violation of NFPA 99 (5.1.14.3.3).  We have seen the GI / Endo areas ruin several area alarm transducers as a result of these practices.  In many cases, engineering opts to put in a smaller vacuum pump (like a Gast pump) to meet the needs of the staff.

Writing up med air & vacuum outlets within scope cleaning rooms has become a very common finding for hospitals.  It seems that a small Gast pump (or similar) located in or near the scope cleaning room can meet the staff needs while not compromising the medical vacuum system.