Endoscopy Technicians are allied health professionals, who are an integral part of the Perioperative Department- Endoscopy healthcare team who assist the medical team when using endoscopes to diagnose or treat patients with gastrointestinal problems. Endoscopy Technicians help prepare the endoscopy room and the equipment; provide support to physicians and nurses while the procedure is underway; handle specimens collected; decontaminate and high level disinfect endoscopy equipment. The Endoscopy Technician works under the supervision and delegatory authority of a RN Endoscopy Manager, supervisor or designee, to facilitate high standards of decontamination, assembly, inspecting, decontamination and high-level disinfecting of endoscopes for the Endoscopy suite. The Endoscopy Technician maintains consistency and continuous workflow while practicing above average customer service. Endoscopy Technicians collaborate with leadership in developing and implementing the Spartanburg Medical Center culture, vision mission and goals.

Minimum Requirements

Education

• High School Graduate/GED

Experience

• New grad to experienced Endoscopy Technician

License/Registration/Certifications              

• BLS

Preferred Requirements

Preferred Education

• Graduate of an accredited CST Program

Preferred Experience

• One or more consecutive years of experience working as a Endoscopy Technician

Preferred License/Registration/Certifications              

• The certification for flexible GI scope techs (CFGIST) through the Certified Board for Sterile Processing and Distribution (CBSPD)

Core Job Responsibilities

• Successfully completes hospital and unit-based orientation programs
• Successfully completes annual hospital and unit-based required competencies and education
• Able to establish priorities and prepare for emergency situations during scheduled work hours and scheduled on-call hours
• Accepts constructive feedback to improve job performance and collaborates with Manager, CUE and/or Shift Supervisor to make necessary adjustments
• Attends staff meetings to remain knowledgeable in department updates and practices
• Collaborates with other members of the healthcare team to determine instrument priorities for case needs
• Complies with established policies and procedures
• Demonstrates knowledge of appropriate infection prevention strategies to prevent surgical site infections
• Demonstrates knowledge of the procedure being performed and anticipates the needs of the Endoscopy team
• Effectively communicates, both written and verbal, with co-workers.
• Ensures compliance with all clinical expectations regarding regulatory requirements such as: improved on time starts initiatives; and reduction in surgical site infections
• Ensures that all endoscopy equipment is properly arranged and organized
• Functions as member of the endoscopy team in the role of a endoscopy techician
• Handles and prepares endoscopy equipment and supplies necessary during the endoscopy procedure
• Inspects, assembles, packages and high-level disinfects endoscopy devices following manufacturer’s recommendations and established procedure.
• Other duties may be assigned as necessary to facilitate the functions of the department and hospital.
• Participates in continuing education and achieving/maintaining certification
• Performs patient care; decontamination and high level disinfection of endoscopy equipment according to guidelines provided thru the Society of Gastrointestinal Nurses Associate (SGNA); Association of peri-Operative Nurses (AORN); Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA); Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC); Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and Det Norske Veritas (DNV)
• Demonstrates knowledge of standard and transmission-based precautions to reduce the risk of cross-contamination by using appropriate disinfectant according to pathogen present in the environment.
• Operates cleaning and sterilization equipment in the department according to manufacturer’s recommendations and established procedure.
• Provides clinical guidance to technology students and ancillary staff
• Provides a positive and conducive learning environment for novice practitioners
• Recognizes the importance of hand hygiene and performs appropriate hand hygiene techniques
• Recognizes the importance of Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) while in the decontamination area and appropriately dons and doffs PPE
• Responsible for demonstrating competency for all new equipment and processes
• Responsible for attending staff meetings and/or reads staff meeting notes to remain knowledgeable in department updates and new processes.
• Participates in the orientation of new endoscopy technicians
• Serves on unit-based committees
• Preprocedural duties include as follows: appropriately dons Endo attire and personal protective equipment (PPE).; Gathers, checks and opens supplies and equipment needed for the surgical procedure; Performs the hand hygiene; Sets up the endoscopy machine, endoscopes, suction, supplies, equipment, and medications/solutions needed for the procedure; Assists the team members with PPE; Participates in the procedure and patient verification during the time out process; Secures tubing, cords and other sterile accessories
• Intraprocedural duties include as follows: Prepares and anticipates additional instrumentation, equipment and supplies for usage during the procedure; Anticipates the needs of the surgeon by passing instruments and supplies to surgeon during procedure; Verifies medications with endoscopy nurse and measures, labels and passes medications, and irrigation solutions utilized during the surgical procedure; Holds endoscopes or instruments as directed by the surgeon; Maintains highest standard of aseptic technique during the procedure; Verifies specimen with surgeon and endo nurse prior to preparing and passes off specimen(s) as appropriate;
• Post Procedural duties include: Assisting other members of the team with in between procedure cleaning of room.; Assists in prepping the endo suite for the next patient; Participates in debriefing and quality improvement practices to ensure quality patient care; Assists the Endoscopy recovery room RN with transport discharged patient to vehicle; recording of vital signs with the electronic medical record and reports changes to Endoscopy recovery room RN; and discharge INT discontinuation as requested by RN;
• Decontamination/High Level Disinfection duties include: Performs bedside initial cleaning of endoscopes and prepares used instruments for high-level disinfection by flushing lumens with enzymatic product at of procedure. Properly transports used endoscopy equipment according to hospital policy to the decontam endoscopy area. Dons appropriate PPE to prior to endoscopy equipment decontamination. Decontaminates and high-level disinfects endoscopy equipment according to manufacturer’s instructions for use; Maintains
• Responsible and accountable for own professional growth and development
• Responsible for decontamination and high-level disinfection of endoscopy equipment following established policy and procedure

Endoscopy cleaning records according to departmental polices according to SGNA and AORN requirements.

Stores high-level disinfection endoscopy equipment in a well vented storage cabinet and prevents cross contamination of clean endoscopy equipment. Operates the Olympus Reprocessing unit according to manufactures’ instructions for use; Reports damaged equipment to management to initiate repair process; Reports equipment malfunction to Biomed as needed.

• Demonstrates flexibility and adaptability by performing other duties as necessary such as: Assists with transferring patient to the Endoscopy suite; Monitors the comfort of the patient and provides verbal and tactile reassurance to the patient; Assists in maintaining patient normothermia; Assists with positioning the patient, using appropriate equipment and anatomical principles to avoid patient injury; Applies the electrosurgical grounding pad; Assists with applying tourniquets and monitors before the procedure begins; Completes the patient skin prep prior to draping by the sterile surgical team; Anticipates additional supplies needed during the procedure; Properly cares for specimens; Updates and keeps accurate records of the surgeon’s preferences.

The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by people assigned this job classification. They are not to be constructed as an all-inclusive list of all duties, skills, and responsibilities of people so assigned.