Outpatient Surgery Magazine, providing current information on Surgical Services, Surgical Facility Administration, Outpatient Surgery News and Trends, OR Excellence and more.
Issue link: http://outpatientsurgery.uberflip.com/i/1089542
hydrogen peroxide (either aerosolized or vaporized), ozone, cluster ions, chlorine dioxide, saturated steam and fogging. One of the most popular options is ultraviolet light. Available in two types — continu- ous mercury bulb or pulsed xenon lamp — UV lights kill a wide range of pathogens on surfaces. One drawback of using UV systems is that objects in the OR can create shadows that the light can't reach without repositioning the device, although advanced technology on some units has emerged to eliminate this problem. Andrew Gostine, MD, an anesthesiologist with Northwestern Medicine and director of innovation at Northwestern Lake Forest Hospital in Chicago, Ill., is in charge of evaluating new technologies and "trying to figure out how we can solve old problems in new ways." He's seen UV used in several hospitals during his career. "It's much I t's a well-established fact that greater than a third of surgical-site infections are caused by particles floating in the air of ORs. 1 A substantial number of these air- borne particles carry microorganisms. They settle onto instruments, devices, im- plants and directly into the surgical wound site. 2-4 A number of these particles are actually stirred up by drafts caused by opening doors, staff and equipment movement and the like. 5 Many of these airborne particles including lint are actually created in the OR itself after the air entering the OR has already passed through the ceiling mounted HEPA filtration system. Sloughed skin cells from patients and staff are also a known source of airborne cellular particles. 6 Covering back tables and instrument trays using disposable drapes simply does not adequately address this problem and may, in some cases, make things worse. The FDA recently cleared a proven technology used successfully in Europe to reduce surgical site infections. It eliminates air- borne particles by as much as 90% at the surgical site. Some refer to it as the "invisible drape". To learn more about this new technology designed to protect your patients and your facility, call Aseptic Air Control at (800)448-0131, or visit www.asepticaircontrol.com In 1972 Whyte and colleagues put it succinctly: "Everything which is to come into contact with the wound has been made sterile, except the air, which is in contact with everything." 1. Howorth FH. Prevention of airborne infection during surgery. Lancet. 1985;1:386–388. 2. Sadrizadeh S, et al. Influence of staff number and internal constellation on surgical site infection in an operating room. Particuology. 2014;13:42–51. 3. Pasquarella C, Pitzurra O, Herren T, Poletti L, Savino A. Lack of influence of body exhaust gowns on aerobic bacterial surface counts in a mixed-ventilation operating theatre. A study of 62 hip arthroplasties. J Hospital Infect. 2003;54:2–9.. 4. Diab-Elschahawi M, et al. Impact of different-sized laminar air flow versus no laminar air flow on bacterial counts in the operating room during orthopedic surgery. Am J Infect Control. 2011;39:e25–e29. 5. Campbell DA, Jr, Henderson WG, Englesbe MJ, Hall BL, O'Reilly M, Bratzler D, et al. Sur- gical site infection prevention: the importance of operative duration and blood trans- fusion-results of the first American College of Surgeons–National Surgical Quality Im- provement Program Best Practices Initiative. J Am Coll Surg. 2008;207:810–820. 6. Brown J, Doloresco Iii F, Mylotte JM. "never events": not every hospital-acquired in- fection is preventable. Clin Infect Dis. 2009;49:743–746. Airborne Transmitted Infections are Real - You Can't Cover Them Up! 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