AER Purchase

 If you have a small medical practice that utilizes AERs (Automatic Endoscope Reprocessors), or "Scope Washers" as they are commonly called you may be wondering which is the best scope washer that will meet the needs of your small clinic. The first step is identifying a small practices needs. Small Medical Practice Needs Considered Space EfficiencyWhy: Small practices usually have limited space. So the footprint and required area around the unit to operate it comfortably must be taken into consideration. So our Top 10 list includes Scope Washers that take into consideration Space con...

AERs are used in both the dental field and medical field for cleaning instruments. But AERs for cleaning endoscopy instruments are more specialized and there are a number of additional factors to consider when trying to evaluate the best automated endoscopic reprocessor to use in your practice.  Endoscopy instruments are typically more delicate and complex than dental instruments. They require specialized cleaning and disinfection procedures to ensure that these instruments are thoroughly cleaned and disinfected. As such, you will need an AER that is specifically designed and validated fo...

So you may be wondering what we're talking about when we suggest to take "time" into consideration when you're figuring out which is the best AER for you to buy for your practice. Well "time" is a valuable commodity and it has to be considered when choosing an AER. Manufacturers do outline the typical cycle times for their respective AERs but what about the time spent, or saved, with other aspects of the device or its consumables. It might be a good idea to put together a spread sheet for this consideration as we'll just go over a couple items to think about but there are many more that you co...

Each of our "Choosing an AER" articles are going over a number of important topics to consider when buying an AER. Our sixth edition today will focus on the filters that are required to properly maintain and run these technological marvels. Odds are that AER filters are not at the forefront of anyone's mind when shopping for an Automatic Endoscopic Reprocessor. It would be like asking about the oil filter cost and availability if you're shopping for a car. It just doesn't typically happen! But why this might matter becomes clear when you realize there are a number of filters on these machines ...

When you make your decision on which AER to purchase you might be somewhat stuck with the responsibility of using disinfectants and detergents that the manufacturer designed the Automatic Endoscopic Reprocessor to be used with. It's similar to buying a Ferrari and needing to always buy premium fuel going forward. Maybe this is not an issue for you and it's definitely not always the case. However, it something to consider. The type of disinfectants / chemicals used directly impact the reprocessing time, efficacy and the energy used to operate the equipment. There's a number of factors that dete...

So here's a topic that may not be on the forefront of someone's mind looking into the purchase of an automatic endoscopic reprocessor; Energy Efficiency. We've already covered "Cycle time" in our prior article "Choosing an AER | Part 2: Cost Per Cycle". But cycle time also relates to and affects energy efficiency so it makes sense that we'd go into the energy perspective of cycle time here. All things being equal, any logical argument about energy consumption would include "the longer a unit takes to sterilize scopes the more it would typically cost to operate". But there's more to this equati...

So we promised to go over some of the items on our list of considerations when purchasing an AER (Automated Endoscopic Reprocessor) from our March 28th article "Choosing and AER". There's obviously so many things to consider besides just the type of AER and budget that it may seem daunting. But here's one of the basic considerations that may be helpful to consider when you're in the market for an AER. Let's go into some of the details today on the "Overall Cost Per Cycle". Overall Cost Per Cycle There's a number of variables to consider when you're looking at the overall cost per cycle. And th...

It's interesting that cost is sometimes a mental barrier rather than physical. It definitely can be the first barrier for new equipment acquisitions, especially AERs (Automated Endocope Reprocessor) as the costs can soar is some cases. It's a barrier reached often before there is really any financial research done to see if an AER equipment expenditure can be justified from other financial perspectives. This position makes perfect sense if your practice has very little revenue, but for most medical offices that offer Endoscopic treatments the purchase of an AER may increase your revenue and de...