March 2026 - AseptiScope, Inc

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

San Diego, CA — March 13, 2026 — AseptiScope®, the pioneer of automated, touch‑free stethoscope hygiene technology, announced today that Clinical Nurse Specialists (CNSs) from across the United States gathered this week in San Diego for the 2026 National Association of Clinical Nurse Specialists (NACNS) Annual Conference. The plenary sessions featured important discussions around patient safety and infection prevention, including a critical focus on the overlooked but widespread problem of stethoscope contamination, and highlighted breakthrough innovations that improve patient safety, outcomes, and hospital operational performance.

During the event, CNSs, known for driving evidence‑based practice and championing clinical excellence nationally, explored how automated hygiene technologies like The DiskCover® System are helping health systems reduce infections, remove human factors errors, strengthen compliance, and elevate patient safety standards.

Why Stethoscope Hygiene Is a National Focus

Because stethoscopes are used in thousands of patient encounters per day, it is not surprising that the diaphragm, the point of patient contact, is established to be as contaminated as unwashed hands. What is surprising is that disinfecting between patients is rarely done, and almost never fully effective. With mounting concerns around healthcare‑associated infections (HAIs), CNSs recognize the urgent need for practical, scalable solutions that protect both patients and clinicians without slowing workflows.

The DiskCover System, an automated, touch‑free, single‑use stethoscope barrier dispenser, addresses this gap by ensuring a clean patient contact for the first time.

*Kathleen Vollman, MSN, RN, CCNS, FCCM, FCNS, FAAN, who was awarded the 2026 NACNS President’s Award and named CNS of the Year in 2018, discusses the impact of stethoscope contamination*.

CNS Perspectives: Real Voices from the Experts

“A solution that combines unparalleled efficacy with exceptional feasibility, making it easy for busy clinicians to do the right thing”

“The stethoscope has been a problem without a solution for a long time, and we finally have a solution that combines unparalleled efficacy with exceptional feasibility, making it easy for clinicians to do the right thing. Tools like this are elegant in their simplicity and advance healthcare efficiency and patient safety at a new level.”
— Kathleen Vollman, MSN, RN, CCNS, FCCM, FCNS, FAAN

“A must-have solution in every healthcare facility where clinicians assess immunocompromised patients”

“This is quite simply a ‘must-have’ solution in every Health Care facility where clinicians assess immunocompromised patients with their stethoscopes, AKA: ‘The Clinician’s 3^rd hand.’ As the latest CDC guidance recommends, stethoscope hygiene must occur between patients, just like hand hygiene. This is patient safety 101, essentially a no brainer!”
— Cynthia Cadwell, ANP-BC, CNS, CPHQ

Innovation Proven to Save Lives and Reduce Costs

Hospitals adopting The DiskCover System have reported substantial improvements in stethoscope hygiene compliance, with significant downstream reductions in infection risk. In customer ICUs, adoption of the technology led to an 84% reduction in central line–associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI) after integration into policy and practice.

With each CLABSI costing hospitals tens of thousands of dollars in avoidable expense, not to mention the clinical impact, CNSs increasingly view stethoscope hygiene as a high‑value target for quality improvement.

AseptiScope Statement

“Clinical Nurse Specialists are essential change agents in patient safety, and its clear stethoscopes are undermining patient safety every single day,” said Scott Mader, CEO of AseptiScope. “The first evidence based policy and procedure for stethoscope hygiene is co-authored by these experts for integration into care, and it is exciting that patients will soon be safer when they seek care.”

About Clinical Nurse Specialists (CNS)

Clinical Nurse Specialists (CNSs) are advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) who combine deep clinical expertise with system-level leadership. They are often described as “the clinical engine that drives quality,” because their work spans three impact spheres: patients, nurses/staff, and the health‑care system.

About AseptiScope®

AseptiScope is a San Diego–based medical technology company dedicated to advancing patient safety through innovative infection‑prevention solutions. Its flagship product, The DiskCover® System, is the first automated, touch‑free stethoscope barrier system designed to ensure sterility at every patient encounter.

Learn more at www.aseptiscope.com.

Media Contact

Name: Anthony Pham
Title: Market Development Director
Email: apham@aseptiscope.com
Phone: (858) 382-8142
Website: www.aseptiscope.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

San Diego, CA — March 6^th, 2026 — Infection Control Today (ICT) has released a new “Peer Exchange” video series of interviews with experts in infection prevention, hosted by Tori Whitacre Martonicz, Lead Editor and author of ICT’s December exposé, “The Dirty Truth About Stethoscopes.”

The newly released video series engages national experts in stethoscope hygiene, as well as three infection‑prevention innovators who have integrated AseptiScope’s unique technology, The DiskCover® System, with exceptional results. They review how the integration of stethoscope hygiene with The DiskCover System has reduced life-threatening infections, improved hygiene compliance, and elevated patient experience. The comprehensive peer exchange features a dozen video topics with facilitated discussion from established and emerging experts in stethoscope hygiene.

For decades, healthcare providers and infection preventionists have suffered with a significant problem and no effective option for addressing a serious patient safety issue. With a long history of failed options for stethoscope hygiene, an innovation that is designed and validated to advance patient safety is a welcome relief.

“It makes perfect sense.”

Peter Graves, BSN, RN, CNOR, an expert in aseptic process from his foundation as an OR nurse, immediately recognized The DiskCover System as the right solution.

“In the operating room, we’ve been using barriers forever,” he said. “It makes perfect sense to isolate the instrument away from the patient.”

*The DiskCover System is a workflow-compatible solution designed for maximum efficacy and compliance.*

“The disk cover barrier eliminates direct contact with the patient.”

“This problem has been undermining our hand hygiene protocols for decades,” said Frank Peacock, MD, Baylor Professor of Medicine, and one of the most published authorities in this category.

“We know that stethoscope cleaning between patients has been an abject failure, and in the peer-reviewed literature, the score is zero successes, thirty failures. The disk cover barrier eliminates direct contact between the stethoscope and the patient, and its touch-free dispensing ensures an easy, immediate, and clean patient exam.”

Frontline innovators have not only integrated this technology with impressive results, but have documented the impact on patient safety, patient experience, infection control compliance, and most importantly, lowering healthcare associated infections.

“The DiskCover System Matters”

“We know that stethoscopes can stay contaminated with resistant organisms even after proper alcohol cleaning,” said Dr. Natalia Nunez, who leads infection prevention for the Miami Cancer Institute (MCI), the new oncology flagship at Baptist Health South Florida.

“For me, the DiskCover (System) matters because it gives our most vulnerable patients an extra layer of safety. And it removes one more thing for them to worry about as they navigate such a difficult and overwhelming kind of disease process.”

**Safety Patients Can See:** *Patients see their clinician apply the blue disk cover barrier right before they’re examined, giving them reassurance that they’re being protected.*

“Disk Covers Are Great”

At the Memphis Veterans Affairs Medical Center, infection control expert Naomi Ragsdale, BSN, RN, emphasized the data in peer-reviewed journals pointing to the technology.

“It’s such an easy way to prevent contamination,” she said. “Having this information, we can’t just ignore it now.”

Ragsdale and her team lowered central line-associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI) rates by 84% for Veterans, until this life-threatening infection disappeared. Their accomplishment was presented at the 2025 National Teaching Institute Conference for critical care experts.

“We Now Know How Serious It Is”

Wendy Simpson, MSN, RN, CCRN, FCCS, both a critical care nurse and infection preventionist, sees the problem and the solution through both lenses and puts the importance of stethoscope hygiene into context.

“We know now how serious it (stethoscope contamination) is. They’ve said it for years; your stethoscope is your third hand. We need to be taking its aseptic use with the same (gravity) as our hands.”

About the Peer Exchange and Infection Control Today

Infection Control Today is a trusted publication for infection preventionists, healthcare epidemiologists, and clinical leaders. ICT delivers evidence‑based reporting, expert insights, and practical tools to support safer healthcare environments across acute care, ambulatory care, and long‑term care settings. The video series can be viewed online at: Stethoscope Hygiene Gaps Persist: Infection Prevention Leaders Call for Workflow-Based Solutions to Reduce HAIs | Peer Exchange | Infection Control Today

About AseptiScope

AseptiScope is a San Diego-based medical innovation company dedicated to advancing patient safety through touch‑free clinical hygiene technology. Its flagship product, The DiskCover® System, is the first fully automated stethoscope barrier solution designed to eliminate device‑to‑patient pathogen transmission. AseptiScope partners with healthcare providers nationwide to strengthen infection prevention practices and protect patients from avoidable exposure.