Tag: stethoscope hygiene

Nursing Experts Across the U.S. Convene in San Diego, Bringing Stethoscope Hygiene into Focus and Spotlight Life‑Saving Innovation

Posted on by Anthony Pham

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 3rd 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

Infection Control Today (ICT) Releases Video Series Featuring Stethoscope Hygiene Experts, Innovators, and Breakthrough Technology: The DiskCover System

Posted on by Anthony Pham
The DiskCover System

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

San Diego, CA — March 6th, 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.

Media Contact

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

Cleveland Clinic Innovation Study Reveals Increased Concern for Dirty Stethoscopes, and Patient Preference For Novel Touch-Free Barrier Solution

Posted on by Anthony Pham
The DiskCover System is a visible form of elevated patient protection that allows clinicians to make their stethoscopes touch-free in just 2 seconds.

Published by AseptiScope®

SAN DIEGO, Sep. 20, 2024

Amid increased patient concerns about hospitals ‘cleanliness’, as well as newly proposed 2024 stethoscope hygiene guidelines by the CDC, Cleveland Clinic researchers explored patient and provider preferences for various stethoscope hygiene methods. It turns out that patients and caregivers alike are concerned about stethoscope contamination, and patients rarely witness stethoscopes cleaning prior to the exam. This new study, titled “Patients and Healthcare Professionals’ Perceptions of Stethoscope Barriers” published today in the Online Journal of Issues in Nursing (OJIN), reveals new concerns for patient safety, and a common preference for a new solution; the touch-free DiskCover® System.  

Stethoscopes are now recognized as highly contaminated vectors that, just like the hands, share pathogens between each patient examination. In fact, stethoscopes are often referred to as the clinician’s “third hand” for their contamination levels and frequency of touching patients. Ostensibly, this means that stethoscope may be undermining all efforts of hand hygiene in healthcare.  With stethoscopes touching US patients over five billion times a year, it is conceivable that this vital medical device may be undermining infection control protocols everywhere. Touch-free, aseptic, stethoscope “disk cover” barriers are an established technology, with excellent clinical acceptance validated by multiple healthcare facilities in a broad range of clinical focuses across the nation. The study carried out by the Cleveland Clinic’s Nursing Innovation team aimed to find out patient perceptions of this novel solution to stethoscope hygiene.

This cross sectional study, surveyed 240 Cleveland Clinic patients and healthcare professionals who witnessed various methods for stethoscope hygiene.

Key findings indicate that patients rarely observe healthcare providers disinfecting their stethoscopes, with only 5% witnessing regular cleaning. The patient surveys also revealed:

  • They believe clean stethoscopes are important.
  • They rarely see clinicians cleaning stethoscopes.
  • Touch-free, disk cover barriers (The DiskCover System) were viewed positively by respondents.
The DiskCover System makes stethoscopes touch-free for patients.

The DiskCover System is a visible form of elevated patient protection that allows clinicians to make their stethoscopes touch-free in just 2 seconds.

Healthcare providers also favored The DiskCover System over alcohol cleaning of the stethoscope for its potential to enhance workflow, an ongoing infection control compliance factor for busy healthcare workers. They also believed that integrating touch-free barrier application into their hygiene practices would result in a greater improvement in patient satisfaction.

AseptiScope Co-Founder and CEO Scott Mader expressed enthusiasm about the study, stating, “The DiskCover System was designed to help busy clinicians while protecting patients.  However, this new data shows that in addition to actual patient protection, the visible disk cover barrier provides patient comfort that their healthcare provider is keeping them safe”.

In a healthcare environment where hospital-acquired infections remain a significant concern, The DiskCover System offers a bacteriologically impervious solution that is easier to use and more effective at delivering visual evidence of cleanliness, giving both patients and staff greater confidence in infection control practices. The study’s findings make a strong case for integrating The DiskCover System into routine care to safeguard patient health and elevate the patient experience, helping them feel more protected.

Patients come into the care of hospitals to heal, but contaminated stethoscopes and healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) have been a long-standing threat to this ideal. A report by Press Ganey, referencing patient experience data sourced from the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS), found that the COVID-19 pandemic “created a dramatic shift in patient perceptions of hospital cleanliness.”

Patient perceptions for hospital hygiene have increased since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Source: Press Ganey, Emerging Best Practices in Response to Evolving Patient Perceptions of Clean. 2022.

Patient perceptions for hospital hygiene have increased since the COVID-19 pandemic. Source: Press Ganey, Emerging Best Practices in Response to Evolving Patient Perceptions of Clean. 2022.

Co-author W. Frank Peacock IV, MD, FACEP, FACC, FESC states, “This patient data aligns with Press Ganey research showing that demonstrations of protecting patients have become much more profound following COVID. Having a proven and visible safeguard for stethoscope hygiene is not only convenient and effective, but is something that comforts our patients as they receive care.”

This technology is increasingly being utilized in clinical care with real world commentary echoing what has been reinforced by Cleveland Clinic’s patients. Dr. Eric Crawley, a specialist at Hawaii Pacific Health, doesn’t need the study to see the impact on patient satisfaction. “I use this every single day, on every single patient, and, without fail, patients are blown away by it. They are incredibly impressed by our commitment to their safety. I deal with a considerable number of transplants, immuno-suppressed patients, and people that don’t need to pick up resistant pathogens.”

The DiskCover System is produced by AseptiScope, a medical device company based in San Diego, CA. AseptiScope, DiskCover, and related logos are registered trademarks of AseptiScope, Inc.

AseptiScope’s The DiskCover System Featured in IBT Media International Business Times

Posted on by Anthony Pham

In The War Against Dangerous Pathogens In Hospitals, Healthcare Providers Elevate Patient Safety With Simple Solutions

Created by Karcy Noonan
Published 07/30/24 AT 11:30 AM EDT

A New Strategy to Protect Our Patients from Superbugs

In the autumn of 2019, at the largest infectious disease forum in the US, a group of medical experts met to discuss the challenge of Healthcare Associated Infection (HAI), which each year takes the lives of 100,000 US patients and costs providers billions of dollars. “We need a new strategy to protect our patients,” stated Frank Peacock, a widely published expert in infection control. and emergency medicine physician in Houston, Texas. Just a few months later, the world would come to a screeching halt with the greatest pandemic of the 21st century. Like all clinicians, Peacock would be thrown headfirst into a multi-year nightmare of long shifts, filled hospitals, and limited resources. The rest is of historical record.

Today, Frank Peacock still treats patients but is also the Chief Medical Officer at AseptiScope®, the company he co-founded with innovation experts who have produced novel solutions in areas like diabetes and cardiovascular disease for decades. “The greatest concern of HAI is that the bugs are winning” Peacock laments. Ever since the germ theory of disease became widely accepted in the late 19th century, clinicians have used various chemicals to kill pathogens, such as alcohol and antibiotics. However, these microorganisms are genetically diverse and are constantly evolving to survive against environmental pressures. This has led to the emergence of multidrug-resistant organisms, also known as “superbugs.” “We can’t wash our way out of this problem as these species learn to survive in the face of antimicrobials like alcohol. Recently, the CDC has elevated concerns that the stethoscope may be transmitting dangerous pathogens by touch between every patient. Touching US patients over 5 billion times a year, the stethoscope may be undermining patient safety. AseptiScope’s innovative solution, The DiskCover® System, blocks stethoscope transmission without contributing to increasing pathogen resistance” explains Peacock.

Resolving Unmet Challenges in Healthcare

AseptiScope CEO Scott Westhaver Mader uses a process he calls “Market-Driven Science,” to identify critical attributes required to resolve unmet challenges in healthcare. “Superbugs take the greatest toll on human life, so fighting them requires technologies that address both immediate needs and long-term impacts,” says Mader. “This touch-free technology provides clean patient contact, breaking transmission without evolving resistant species. Through the development of The DiskCover System, healthcare can win three battles in the war against microbes: improving patient safety, reducing the indiscriminate use of alcohol, and transitioning to sustainable technology.”

Having completed their design, development, and validation programs, co-founder and Chief Operations Officer Kelly Powers has led the operationalizing of the company. The first touch-free stethoscope hygiene system, The DiskCover System, is now registered with the FDA and the company is licensed to manufacture. “As anticipated, each production lot is bigger than the last. Our goal now is to sophisticate our approach to manufacturing as we expand our customer base and prepare to scale production for healthcare providers across the nation, who now finally have a true solution to this problem,” says Powers.

Authorities in Infection Control Recognize the Importance of Stethoscope Hygiene

The company now has attracted the attention of leaders in the field, some of the largest healthcare providers in the U.S., and a growing number of community hospitals and clinics. Top experts in infection control and patient care have recently called on the CDC to elevate the guidelines for stethoscope hygiene to the same level as hand hygiene, referring to the stethoscope as “the clinician’s third hand.” The authorities in infection control and medicine broadly have understood the nature of the problem with stethoscope transmission, but they lacked a true solution for this problem. “Now that The DiskCover System has been validated and is in use around the country, these experts are energized about resolving these patient safety challenges that have been suspected for decades and are now understood to be very real”, says Dr. Peacock. The CDC is issuing new 2024 guidelines designed to reduce the transmission of pathogens in healthcare, and with a completed framework requiring stethoscope hygiene between each patient encounter similar to hand hygiene.

“The DiskCover System is designed to block pathogen transmission while offering ease of use, workflow compatibility, sustainability, and a strong return on investment.” continues Mader. “We conduct studies published in our online clinical library, along with data showing clinical satisfaction data in hospitals, clinics, and more.”

AseptiScope, Inc. (www.aseptiscope.com) is a privately funded San Diego, California-based, clinical innovation portfolio company. AseptiScope, DiskCover, and associated logos are registered trademarks of AseptiScope, Inc.

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Article from International Business Times: https://www.ibtimes.com/war-against-dangerous-pathogens-hospitals-healthcare-providers-elevate-patient-safety-simple-3738473

As guidelines elevate stethoscope hygiene requirements, new technology may resolve pathogen transmission via touch

Posted on by Anthony Pham

Thu, Apr 18, 2024, 12:01 PM PDT

Aseptiscope’s DiskCover® System can help healthcare providers meet the new guidelines from the US CDC, which consider stethoscopes having the same level of risk as unwashed hands.

San Diego, California, April 18, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — AseptiScope®, a California-based, clinical innovation company, has introduced its patented DiskCover® System, a novel technology allowing stethoscopes to avoid direct contact with patients, similar to how gloves are used for clinicians’ hands. This allows clinicians and health facilities to meet the new 2024 guidelines from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that elevate concern with stethoscope transmission of pathogens through touch, the foundation of Healthcare Associated Infections (HAI).

The recently released CDC guidelines have reclassified the stethoscope as a major vector for pathogen transmission in healthcare settings, due to its frequent contact with patients, requiring hygiene between each patient, just as the clinician’s hands, which have the same level of contamination as the stethoscope diaphragm (that touches patients). Previously, the stethoscope was classified as a non-critical item, similar to bed railings and countertops, despite stethoscopes touching US patients more than 5 billion times per year.

The DiskCover System uses a wall-mounted, motion-activated dispenser that is loaded with a Clean Cassette®. Each time the clinician wants to apply a cover on their stethoscope, they wave their hand under the dispenser and then place the stethoscope’s diaphragm into a window that applies a disk cover barrier, a totally clean, medical-grade barrier with high-fidelity acoustic performance. Each cassette maintains 420 disk covers in an aseptic (clean) environment until it is applied to a stethoscope. The entire application process takes less than two seconds and does not interrupt the clinician’s workflow.

Now available commercially from AseptiScope’s e-commerce site, the technology is already in use in those hospitals that proactively recognize its value to both healthcare and patients. Naomi Ragsdale, a nurse and infection control expert at the Memphis VA Medical Center,, identified this technology and led its integration into the intensive care setting. “The DiskCover System® has made stethoscope cleanliness uncomplicated and transparent for our ICU. We are able to monitor usage and have peace of mind knowing the compliance of our staff is on par with our hygiene goals which in turn decreases the risk for a hospital-acquired infection”, stated Ragsdale.

“Cancer patients are more susceptible to infection due to their course of treatment, and stethoscope exams are routine in patient assessment,” adds Gerardo Midence, MD, a cancer specialist at St. Joseph Cancer Center in Lewiston, Idaho. St. Joseph is the first to adopt the technology within Lifepoint Health, a national healthcare provider. “We evaluated The DiskCover System and found it to be useful, practical, and functional. Importantly, it makes stethoscope hygiene more reliable and timely.”

“I really see technology playing a huge role in our ability to resolve this challenge,” says Kathleen Vollman, a clinical nurse specialist and president of the World Federation of Critical Care Nurses. “The CDC now recognizes the stethoscope as a significant vector for disease transmission, and we need innovation that will make it easy for busy clinicians to do the right thing. Cleaning stethoscopes with alcohol between patients takes too long, can damage the stethoscope, and is ineffective against alcohol-resistant pathogens.”

AseptiScope CEO Scott Mader says that The DiskCover System is a product of an innovation methodology, called market-driven science. “We develop solutions based on identified clinical needs, and these are designed, vetted, and validated as evidence-based solutions that inherently resonate with providers. Clinicians have not only responded favorably to The DiskCover System, but have stated support for similar solutions for other vectors such as ultrasound probes, and even hands”, says Mader.

Media contact:

Name: Anthony Pham

Email: apham@aseptiscope.com

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Article from Yahoo! Finance: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/guidelines-elevate-stethoscope-hygiene-requirements-190100981.html?guccounter=1

Experts Recommend New Stethoscope Hygiene Standards To Address Patient Safety Risk

Posted on by Anthony Pham
This image shows a clinician holding stethoscope whose diaphragm is protected by a disk cover barrier from The DiskCover System, the new stethoscope hygiene standard due to its efficacy and ease of use.
Effective stethoscope diaphragm barriers will elevate patient safety and protection from pathogens.

SAN DIEGO, Apr. 3, 2024 – Across time and around the world the symbol of healthcare, the stethoscope, remains the most commonly used medical device. Today’s publication in the Journal of Infection and Public Health¹ issues a clear message to the healthcare community.

“Our stethoscopes are like our third hand, they touch our patients in each assessment, but in the process they spread pathogens just as unwashed hands. The data is consistent and clear on this, and we’ve been ignoring it for too long,” says Dr. Frank Peacock, an emergency physician at Baylor College of Medicine and an author of today’s publication. He and coauthors conducted a review and analysis of research associated with the stethoscope’s ability to transmit the pathogens that are of greatest concern – Multi Drug Resistant Organisms (MDROs).

Although stethoscope contamination is not new to the healthcare community, the practice of stethoscope hygiene between patients has not been reinforced.  “Even when clinicians do take the time to clean their stethoscopes by wiping it down with alcohol, resistant pathogens such as MRSA and C. diff spores still persist on the stethoscope diaphragm,” says Dr. Abhay Dhand, referring to the part of the stethoscope that touches the patient. Dhand is a coauthor and infectious disease expert at Westchester Medical Center in New York.

A representation of the spread of pathogens from patient to patient by a stethoscope diaphragm.
MDROs persist on the stethoscope diaphragm even after cleaning with alcohol, causing concerns for pathogen transmission to other patients.

On the west coast of the US things are no different; “I’ve conducted these studies myself”, says Alpesh Amin, MD, Professor of Medicine and Hospital Medicine expert at the University of California, Irvine. “Cleaning takes time and technique, it is not consistently done, and it still won’t remove dangerous, resistant pathogens known as MDROs. Over decades now, studies show this as a failed strategy”, Amin stated.

The expert analysis also looked at results for “single-patient stethoscopes” that are disposable tools assigned to one patient. “These blunt tools have not improved patient safety, and most data supports they may do the opposite”, states Cynthia Cadwell, NP, CPHQ, a patients safety expert, and coauthor. “Studies have shown that these poor quality products cause over 10% misdiagnoses, including critical cardiac pathologies like heart murmurs. Most data support that disposable stethoscopes do not prevent transmission, force clinicians to share contaminated earbuds, and contribute to increased material waste. These items have no redeeming value for the patient, the clinician, nor the environment”, concludes Cadwell.

The authors note that several studies in recent years have noted unprecedented blocking of stethoscope transmission using a clean barrier that shields patients during exams, allowing clinicians to use their stethoscopes with no acoustic interference. “Placing a barrier between the stethoscope and the patient ultimately makes stethoscope exams touch-free, essentially placing a clean glove on our third hand”, quips Alpesh Amin, credited for the stethoscope nickname in his 2015 study titled “The Third Hand²”.

Down the road from Dr. Amin, Dr. Francesca Torriani serves as Program Director of Infection Prevention and Clinical Epidemiology at University of California, San Diego Health. She has researched and published on the new, touch-free technology that automatically applies a clean, medical grade barrier on stethoscopes in about a second, immediately prior to the patient exam.

The technology, called The DiskCover System, is now available in the United States, and is gaining popularity. “We are now integrating it into routine use in several units with good reviews”. UC San Diego has installed The DiskCover System in UCSDH units and clinics throughout the city by integrating it into hand hygiene stations. “We have integrated hand hygiene into everything we do, so placing The DiskCover System next to hand hygiene stations, the staff automatically uses it,” Dr. Torriani advised.

This image shows The DiskCover System, a new and effective medical device and method for stethoscope hygiene.
A New Stethoscope Hygiene Standard: With The DiskCover System’s aseptic barriers, stethoscopes are now touch-free.

A new return-on-investment (ROI) analysis³ shows the touch-free, barrier technology, The DiskCover System, may save hospitals up to $5M annually. In a related move the CDC recently announced their new 2024 Guideline to Prevent Transmission of Pathogens in Healthcare Settings, replacing their antiquated old guidelines. The draft framework, now posted on the CDC website, repositions stethoscopes as vectors that transmit pathogens through touch, and that hygiene should be conducted “prior to use with other patients”, much more aligned with today’s hand hygiene requirements regulated by patient care oversight groups such as The Joint Commission.

The experts’ conclusions are that, based on the data, “the use of a practitioner’s personal stethoscope with a disposable diaphragm barrier should be considered as a significant improvement in patient safety… and considered as a potential new standard for all patient contacts.”

References:

  1. Stethoscope Barriers Narrative Review; It’s Time for a Strategy Unfriendly to Multi-Drug Resistant Organisms (MDROs) – ScienceDirect
  2. The Third Hand: Low Rates of Stethoscope Hygiene on General Medical Services (mdedge.com)
  3. Peacock WF. The Hidden Expense of Stethoscope Hygiene vs the Real Costs of Failure. Clin Exp Emerg Med. 2024 Jan 11. doi: 10.15441/ceem.23.161. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 38204157.