Abstract:Objective To compare two methods for monitoring the cleaning and disinfection effects of soft endoscopes, and identify the types of microorganisms on unqualified endoscopes.Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted on the results of cleaning and disinfection of 345 endoscopes from January 2019 to January 2022. Among them, 132 endoscopes which evaluated the disinfection effect according to the “Regulation for cleaning and disinfection technique of endoscope (2004 Edition)” were the control group, and the remaining 213 endoscopes monitored by the standard of WS507-2016 “Regulation for cleaning and disinfection technique of flexible endoscope” were the experimental group. The qualified rate of endoscopes and microbial detection rate were analyzed, and the types of microorganisms were identified by mass spectrometry on unqualified endoscopes.Results The qualified rate was 88.3% in the experimental group and 93.2% in the control group (P > 0.05). The number of bacteria detected in the control group was less than that in the experimental group significantly (P < 0.05). Mass spectrometric analysis of the microorganisms on the unqualified endoscopes revealed a total of 34 species, with 76.5% gram negative bacterium. Among them, Stenotrophomonas maltophilia and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were most frequently detected.Conclusion The sensitivity and accuracy of the endoscopic monitoring method specified in the WS507-2016 “Regulation for cleaning and disinfection technique of flexible endoscope” were significantly higher than the related methods in the “Regulation for cleaning and disinfection technique of endoscope (2004 Edition)”, and the microorganisms were mainly gram negative bacterium on qualified endoscopes.