[Hygiene barriers in the hospital--instrumentation aspects]

There is a contrary course between the development of high sophisticated instruments which are used in all medical fields on the one hand and the establishment of relevant hygienic measurements for the processing of such instruments on the other hand. For this situation the following reasons can be mentioned: 1. Along the technical development of these instruments the hygienist is not consulted 2. The processing of such instruments is delegated to assistant personal and their critical comments are not realised by those clinicians who are responsible for the use of these instruments and 3. nosocomial infections triggered by still contaminated instruments will be concealed by perioperative antibiotic prophylaxis. There are many examples for instruments which cannot be processed in the right way and which are specially used in surgery in endoscopy and in intensive care units. The constructive cooperation between the technician the clinician using the instruments and the hygienist alone will provide the elimination of technical and psychological barriers in this field and allow the construction and use of those instruments which can be processed in a hygienic relevant way.