Until recently, anesthetists have focused on antibiotic administration and normothermia
but have paid less attention to contamination in the anesthesia environment and its
impact on surgical site infections. We implemented a simple intervention and tested
its effect on anesthetic environment contamination between procedure start and finish.
Of the baseline cases, 46% reached a critical predefined threshold of contamination
compared with 12% of the intervention cases. A small behavioral change dramatically
lowered contamination in the anesthesia environment.
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References
- Financial impact of surgical site infections on hospitals: the hospital management perspective.JAMA Surg. 2013; 148: 907-914
- Transmission of pathogenic bacterial organisms in the anesthesia work area.Anesthesiology. 2008; 109: 399-407
- Hand contamination of anesthesia providers is an important risk factor for intraoperative bacterial transmission.Anesth Analg. 2011; 112: 98-105
- Reduction in intraoperative bacterial contamination of peripheral intravenous tubing through the use of a novel device.Anesthesiology. 2009; 110: 978-985
Article info
Footnotes
Conflict of interest: None to report.
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Copyright
© 2014 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
