The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has issued a medical device alert for detergent and disinfectant wipes used on reusable medical devices with plastic surfaces.
The MHRA has received incident reports relating to detergent and disinfectant wipes that have degraded plastic surfaces of medical devices and affected their performance and integrity. The reports describe damage to devices such as tympanic thermometers, patient monitors, infusion pumps, dialysis fluid filters, peritoneal dialysis transfer sets and infant warmers. The MHRA warns that failure to follow the device manufacturer’s decontamination instructions may be considered off-label use. The alert offers the following guidance:
• Ensure detergent and disinfectant wipes are compatible with the device.
• Always follow the device manufacturer’s decontamination instructions.
• Look for signs of damage to the medical device and follow local reporting procedures as appropriate.
• If the manufacturer’s decontamination instructions are inadequate, report this fact to the MHRA and the manufacturer.
A copy of the alert can be downloaded from the MHRA website: www.mhra.gov.uk
